Cool Mum just told me that I overhyped the hugetastic news that is supposed to drop here tomorrow. What can I say: I’m a fan of the dramatic!
It’s been a whirlwind last few days as I’m working on several projects as well as did our taxes laaate last night. To be honest, I was relieved that a post didn’t have to come up here like during the 40 days of Lent. Here are a few notes during that time of daily posting:
- This is the first time that I’ve ever fulfilled a Lent commitment. And that’s not counting those ridiculous ones that I made as a kid, like “I promise that I won’t throw anyone’s pets into a canyon during the next 40 days.” Boy, would I have felt bad for breaking that one; probably more for the animal-tossing than the commitment-breaking.
- There were a few posts that I particularly liked. Cool Mum added some good ones as well. However, the commitment soon became an obligation, especially considering how busy life had already been. Overall, post quality may have gone down as I just wanted to put something up before midnight. That’s never a good thing. I think we’re a 3-4 post per week kind of family.
- The weekend before Easter, I was ready to quit the Lent commitment. It’s not because I was completely burned out, which is not the case since we made it through fine. I wanted to quit because it had certainly become an obligation. I wasn’t thinking about what God wanted to do through our blog. I was just thinking about the ‘job’ and my reputation.
It was a personal challenge, not a divinely-inspired one. I’m glad that we met the challenge, but life isn’t about overcoming our challenges. It’s about obeying and glorifying God lovingly and cheerfully.
So those are some quick lessons from Lent. We’ll see you back here on Thursday!
Last Wednesday, I ended my week-long Cool Vegetarian Challenge. It actually went 8 days, but not by choice. On the last day, I never got around to getting meat for lunch. And then I was going to make chicken curry for dinner, but got home late and instead cooked a couple of VeggieBurgers from the stockpile.
I wish I could say that I had some transcendent epiphanies from going without dead animal for 8 days, but I didn’t. There were a few things learned though:
- It stretched my boundaries a little on what I’ll eat. I’m not picky, but Veg Week forced me to alter my habits. My usuals for lunch – McDonald’s snack wraps, Jamaican Jerk chicken, anything from Subway – were off the table. I ended up eating falafels, veggie pizza, and even nothing for a couple of days. I was getting less hungry, which was weird.
- I could’ve gone much longer. I wasn’t craving meat by the time I had it. There was just chicken thawing in the refrigerator, and I didn’t want it to go to waste.
- Cool Mum took up the challenge as well. However, I didn’t realize until the end that CB involuntary joined in, too. I felt bad for taking meat out of his diet for a week, but with plenty of beans, cheese, and yogurt, he did quite alright.
- Meat is not behind my frugal ways. With meat out of the equation, I was still a cheapskate. I thought about splurging a little on a Chinese place for lunch until I realized that I couldn’t handle paying $6 and having half of the menu not be an option. If I’m eatin’ fancy, I’m ain’t gonna keep it to just peapods and rice!
I think just about anyone could do the Cool Veg Challenge. It wasn’t a big deal, just a little inconvenient at times. Now to plan my weeklong meat-only diet, the CCC – Cool Carnivores Challenge…
I believe that we haven’t missed a day of blogging yet. I hope that it hasn’t become an obligation to us. I want this to be something to honor God and this ministry that He’s given us and not just a load that we’ve put on our shoulders with God’s name on it. We also don’t want it to be a load on your RSS readers either!
How is your Lent fast going?
