Lent in the Community

Hello Blog.

It's been a while . . . 3 months to be exact. Please don't feel too bad, you're not the only means of writing that I leave unattended for extended amounts of time. I pulled out my journal the other day and thought, "hmm, it's been a while." Please keep in mind that I take this journal everywhere . . . to camp for the summer, on retreats, on road trips, in my pile of "things that can't get lost" as I move 700 miles across country, etc. In spite of it's constant presence, the last time I actually wrote in it before last night was October. Of 2009. So you see, it's nothing personal about you, it's a personal character flaw of mine. My bad.

Rather than try to sum up the last 3 months in a paragraph, I'm just going to skip it and jump right into my current days and thoughts.

For Lent, we as a community wanted to practice the spiritual practice of fasting from a specific item. We wanted it to be something we could all do together that would bring us together (and not cause division or seperation), would raise awareness in our own lives about bigger social justice issues, and would be something we actually notice. We decided to give up coffee and chocolate unless it is officially Fair Trade. We also encouraged each other to choose something more personal to work on throughout the Lent Season. I decided to give up meat, aka be a vegetarian, for Lent as well.

To start Lent, we went through the kitchen and purged it of all chocolate and coffee items. We put them away, out of sight, for the season. I did the same in my office. Now, I'm the first to admit that I love coffee and that I really like chocolate. But I was still amazed at how much chocolate is in our house and my office! Everything from cereals to granola bars to baking items to drink mixes. I did the same in my office and my stash of 10 granola bars was suddenly down to 2. :( Chocolate has infilitrated a lot more of my life than I would have ever thought!

The first two mornings of Lent, aka mornings without coffee, were tough. I expected a headache, but beyond that, I couldn't focus. I'd read an email and get to the end and realize I had no idea what it said. I'd sit and stare at my long to-do list without knowing where to start. Yikes! But as the week went on, things got better. (I can't imagine that it has anything to do with the Diet Pepsi I started drinking . . .) On our Tuesday Community Day, we went to a coffee shop that serves all fair-trade. I was delighted by the taste and before I knew it, I'd had two cups and still couldn't concentrate, but for opposite reasons. It had only been a week, but that caffiene suddenly carried a stronger kick. It's amazing how quickly the body adjusts!

Giving up meat has also been realized as a bigger deal than I initially thought. But first, here were/are some of my concerns as I transition into a Vegetarian for Lent.
1. Won't I be hungry? Meat has a lot of protein and protein keeps you full. Without protein, I'll be hungry . . .
2. I'll eat a lot of salad.
3. I will accidently order something at a restaurant that has meat.
4. I'll only eat beans.
5. I'll have troubles, err, umm, "digesting" all the beans.
6. I'll have to cook more.
7. It'll be hard.

I hope to revisit each of these questions along the way and see how these concerns are realized. But until then . . .

Again, blog, I apologize for my absence, but please don't take it personally. I do hope that Lent will give me motivations to blog more often and frequently. And who knows, maybe this time it will stick!