As Shrove Tuesday Transitions into Ash Wednesday........

Tuesday, February 28/17

So I'm not uber religious but do follow certain activities as they come about during the course of the year.

First among them is Ash Wednesday and the concept behind Lent.

Lent is the season in the Christian year when we focus on simple living, fasting, and sacrifice in order to grow closer to God. Lent lasts 40 days, not counting Sunday's and begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.

Like a lot of things in my life I've tended to follow this practice more recently than I did when I was a younger man. I think this is part of the whole growing older and looking back on life and wishing for a return to simpler times.

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is called Shrove Tuesday, or more commonly Pancake Tuesday. The thought being that with the advent of Ash Wednesday people would feast on Tuesday and reduce the amount of sugars and flour within their homes. I've never been a big Pancake Tuesday guy and still aren't, which is kind of surprising in that I really do like pancakes.

So I was mulling over my sacrifice for this years Lent and have settled upon fast food.

That's right......no fast food between now and Easter Sunday.

This will be a good test of my will as sometimes its so easy to just grab something after a long day at work but I'm determined not to break my Lent sacrifice. It will be both spiritually and physically good for me to keep this vow.

I'm also introducing something new to my Lent this year in that I'm going to take a vow to do something every day versus just giving something up.

Mine will actually be two-fold.

I'm going to post a blog entry every single day of Lent. Now not every posting will be earth shattering but the mere prospect of writing daily will hopefully get me back on track with the blog as it's become so easy to just come home from work and literally collapse on the couch from being so mentally drained and instead of doing something good for myself I vegetate with Moki.

I'm going to say something nice to someone each and every day. This can be as simple as wishing a stranger a good day as we pass each other to a more direct compliment on how nice someone looks.

So there you have it, pretty simple and yet doable if I just put my mind to it.

Do you follow Lent?

What are you giving up for the next 40+ days?

Marcus