Sunday, February 19, 2012

The season of Lent is upon us and that is becoming one of my favorite times of year. I am unencumbered by formal religious obligations and am in ignorance of the knowledge of learned scholars, so I get to muddle and do what I want. It is an amazing feeling of freedom, choice, and liberation that gives me.
It is my understanding that Lent is based on the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, where he supposedly fasted, prayed, and chatted with Satan. It is odd that there is precious little recorded about what happened during that time. I think there is a reason for that. No, I do not think that the 40 days was a smoke screen for Jesus to party with the angels. I think the reason is that Jesus spent those 40 days of solitude to figure stuff out, to mediate, to feel the cold of the night, to feel the scorching heat of the day, to feel out why he was there and what he has to do. If he had the answers he would have been a big dummy to have gone into the desert just for fun, He used those 40 days, it seems wisely to get answers and maybe that is my guide to what to do with Lent, So here is my game plan for Lent:

Dining Out – It is one of life’s pleasures to dine out. It is great to have someone else prepare the meal and clean up afterwards. Yet my wife and I have morphed into Frequent Eater Outters. We go out at the drop of a hat, or set of keys and that is a) a waste of money, b) a waste of our sense of appreciation. During Lent we shall not eat out unless it is a) for reasons of travel or business and simply not being at home or b) a celebration with a guest. I will keep track of the money not spent and at the end of Lent donate it to the Royal Ottawa Hospital

Dining In – We shall eat at our house freely of all food that is in the house. That will give me a sense of practicality and using resources that one has stored, and prevent me from falling into the trap of following the letter and not the spirit.

Shopping for Food
– During this season we shall not purchase any food that is made from an animal, fish or most especially a mollusk. The prohibition will also include any food that is perceived as “snack” or “junk” and include cakes, cookies, ice cream, popcorn, rice cakes, chocolate and so forth. This will help me reflect on two things: 1) the fact that all life is sacred and it is important to think of that once in a while and 2) that we have really turned many of God’s food in poison and we need to think about that as well.

Righteous Anger - I love being angry about the right thing. As I write this the Conservative Government in Ottawa has killed the Long Gun Registry. That is their right and they did get the majority government from the people. I think the Long Gun Registry was a very good thing but that is water over the dam now. But the Conservative Party, on this victory of theirs, chose to have an almost gloating victory party totally unmindful of the many people deeply upset about this, The actions of the MPs that did this, make me angry , in my view that is Righteous Anger. But all anger is bad and I want to make an effort to abandon all of my anger for Lent.

Internet, Television, and Computer
– I have recently succumbed to the game Angry Birds and spend an embarrassing amount of time trying to get to the next level. On one level it is innocent fun, on the other it is a total waste of time.
I can wile away hours on the computer surfing the net and last week I watched an entire television show that ended in a cliffhanger to entice me to watch next week.
During Lent I shall not play any computer games, and limit my online time to an hour a day. I shall watch no television with the exception of the news, This will serve to make me mindful of the gift of time and I want to use this gift to a) read more, b) mediate more, and c) clean up more.

So that is the plan – life will still go on. I am not in the desert and I have the gift and obligation of a day job. But if I can make myself a little better during Lent that is good. Like I said, it is becoming one of my favotite times of year.

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