Lent

Well, Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.  It's weird that Lent and Easter are so late this year, but yet, they still manage to sneak up on me.  It's weird having Ash Wednesday be during Spring Break.  I also completely forgot about Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday which is fine, because I am super sick anyway and probably would not have been up for too much fattening up haha.  Apparently, Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church.  It is a Mass more heavily attended by Catholics than Christmas Mass though which is very odd.  I'd still like to make it to Mass tomorrow, but I am glad it is not an obligation day since it is very hard for me to get to Mass when I'm at home and there isn't a chapel conveniently located across the parking lot from me. 

I still haven't finalized my lenten promises for this year, but after viewing my bank statement tonight, I think I'm definitely going to cut back on personal spending for Lent and try not to buy myself anything I don't need for a while since I just took myself out on a hundred dollar shopping spree which was a terrible decision.  Luckily, I get paid Friday and I don't think I should be needing to buy much for a while.  I also think it would be great to dedicate some extra time to prayer since I am in preparation for getting confirmed and I think prayer would definitely help me in readying myself to receive this sacrament.  In addition to prayer, I think I'm also going to try to study the lives of some saints to help me in choosing a name to be my confirmation name.

 Last year, I also made myself read some amount of Bible verses each day for Lent and I think that was a really great idea, so I may try doing that again this year.  I usually try to do some combination of things to help myself in my faith life, so hopefully, I'll find a good mix of things to give up and take on this lenten season.  I thought about giving up facebook like many of my peers, but I tried that last year and it was rough at first, but by the end of Lent, I didn't really miss it and now, I can go days without checking my facebook, so I feel like giving it up wouldn't do much for me at this point in my life.  I will probably also force myself to write or blog every day during Lent just because it is something I want to do more of and just haven't gotten myself to make a habit of yet, so hopefully, these next 40 days will be filled with more blog posts for you all to read! 

If anyone has any good ideas that maybe you've tried in the past or are doing this year for Lent that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear suggestions or just help you stay accountable during this Lenten season.  Good luck and God bless!