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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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With Lent coming up, I am contemplating what I would like to give up or what I might do to offer to Our Lord.
What sacrifices have been most meaningful to you in the past? What do you feel really changed you at the time?
I realize this is a very personal topic, and not everyone might feel like sharing. I am just looking for something more than the usual giving up chocolate (which I have never been able to do successfully for all of Lent  ).
Last year I had several Lenten projects going. One I enjoyed was walking 40 miles during Lent. I tried to use my walking time to pray for others.
Some of my projects were not quite as successful (you know... the chocolate thing).
Anyway... if anyone wants to share... I'm listening!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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stellamaris
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 9:42am | IP Logged
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I love your idea of walking 40 miles and praying during Lent, Melinda. 
In the past, I have given up coffee (a true penance for my family  ), personal reading (that was tough),interrupting others, and nibbling between meals (not too successful at that one ). I try to pick an area or habit that I feel doesn't honor the Lord and change it by my Lenten practice. I guess I think that if I do that every year, little by little I'll develop more holy habits. Although the coffee thing really didn't continue after Easter  !
I like to also add a devotion during Lent, something like a Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day.
I'm not sure what I will decide upon for this year. Maybe your walking idea.
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Caroline
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 11:55am | IP Logged
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Last year I successfully gave up chocolate. At Sr. urging, for Advent, we did something similar. I gave up extra sugars. So no sweetened tea, no candy, no chocolate. It was hard, as I love tea and coffee sweetened, so it had to go too.
So for Lent, I'm continuing with that. No sugars. If it's in the bread we buy, fine, sugars are really everywhere. But no sweets, so no muffins, no candy, no sweetbreads. Pancakes would be with fruit, but no syrups. I go further to say, no artificial or alternate sweeteners. I am also reducing the computer use. This one scares me! But if I am really honest with myself, I spend way to much time, mindlessly browsing. So, I am giving myself 1 hour in the morning, this will allow me to get my lesson plans, and any school related items taken care of. And any important emails for the teams, etc. I can't completely turn it off. I think it would be easier if I could, now I really need to focus. Along with that, I'm getting things done. I detest housework, I avoid it when I can, I can be lazy with it. So for all of Lent, I'm not allowing myself to do so.
I have my Motivated Moms ready for the next couple months. And I am working on a list of the ugly tasks I don't want to do. These WILL get done. As much as I don't want to. I'm going to tackle the laziness i am afflicted by(of my own choosing, I admit).
I guess my list for Lent, is maybe excessive. But really, in comparison to what He gave, it's really nothing.
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jawgee
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 1:30pm | IP Logged
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I love your walking idea!!
Here are some of mine:
-Last year I limited my computer time to one hour, which was really good for me. I've been trying to encourage my husband to join me and have a tech-free family for Lent, but I don't think he is going to go for it.
-Sugar, and specifically chocolate, is a big one for me. I'll probably do that again.
-Last year I fasted on Fridays (from Thursday dinner until Friday dinner). It really turned into a spiritual blessing for me!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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I find that I do better if I'm *doing* something rather than *not doing* something.
So rather than say.. not getting on the computer.. I have a list of things that I must do before time on the computer.
By simply "not doing" something I will turn to other things that while good can also be overdone.. like reading instead of being on the computer Where saying I will get something done before doing the computer or other fun stuff.. it works much the same way without giving me the opportunity to develp a different bad habit.
And that walking is brilliant.. I really need to add in some exercise and walking would be perfect for me at this time. And hmmm you should have a few extra days in there for inclement weather interuptions huh? or you could walk extra on the good days. yes that would make it doable.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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Jpdie-
On days I could not get out to walk, I would do a 2 mile Leslie Sansone walking dvd session. I could build up extra days that way, also, for days when there was just too much stuff going on to walk at all.
Every step for the conversion of sinners (including myself ) !
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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SusanJ
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| Posted: Feb 10 2012 at 9:00pm | IP Logged
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The last couple of years dh and I have done more fasting than in the past. We looked up the "old" rules for fasting which, according to our old encyclopedia were 4oz. of bread at breakfast, 8 oz. of bread at lunch, no snacks, normal dinner. We did that Ash Wednesday, all Fridays, and then each week of Lent we added another day of this fast so that for Holy Week we were fasting every day. I think we double up the three-day week.
It sounded awful to me when we first contemplated it but, really, that's a decent amount of food. Combined, that's an entire baguette for breakfast and lunch. But you get mighty sick of bread by the end of Lent. It was fantastically more beneficial for me than any other sacrifice I have ever tried. I think, for me, just "following the rule" made me less hung up on either trying to be too "hardcore" about Lent or, on the flip side, feeling like I wasn't doing enough.
This year I can't do bread so I think I'm going to try doing the same fasting schedule but on fast days not eat from 10-5.
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SusanMc
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 11:14am | IP Logged
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This year we've decided to give up meat and limit animal products for Lent. Of course part of this is a "healthy" element for us, but also that we are more in solidarity with the world's poor (for whom meat and to some extent eggs are a luxury item rather than a staple). It is also in line with our desire to be good stewards of the earth (It takes 10x more grain/land/resources for a pound of meat and an equivalent of plant-based foods) and good stewards of our bodies. We're not really into it from the animal-rights angle though. As we live in Texas this is a HUGE deal for us. I would have never attempted it if my husband hadn't suggested it first.
Anyway, the solidarity and stewardship angles make this more meaningful to me than previous diet-based Lenten observances.
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CrunchyMom
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Is it awful that I cannot remember feeling as though I made a "good lent?"
Granted, I've only been Catholic since 2003, but I'm almost at ten years, where I'm not sure I can continue to use the "its all still so new to me" excuse
Seriously, though, I dread lent every year--fear it might be more accurate. It feels like I start out with good intentions, and I always fail. I mean, I get that failing is part of it, but still...things usually fall apart when we all get sick  and people start dying or our priest gets arrested, etc... just really awful things always seem to happen. 
Anyway, I hope I'm not hijacking. It is encouraging to read that people occasionally DO have good lents. I just never have 
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SusanJ
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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Oh, Lindsay, I completely understand. I used to dread Lent, too. And then I spent all of Lent looking forward to Easter and not for the reasons most people look forward to Easter. I just wanted to finally stop feeling guilty for being such an utter failure. If it's any consolation, I've been a practicing Catholic (I'm a revert) for two years longer than you and the last two years have been my only "good Lents" (I'm sure they were all good in ways I didn't recognize). So maybe this is your year? 
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JennGM
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged
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I dread Lent, too, different years, different reasons. One reason I dread this year is having to look at my failures. I make resolutions and always can't keep them.
But that's a good thing, really, because it means I'm not capable of getting to heaven on my own. If I am constantly trying to pull myself up by my own bootstraps and get successful, I get too proud.
To me, "best Lent" is defined by seeing my boys grow, and Holy Week and Easter being more of a spiritual focus (same goes for "Best Advent").
My best Lents were when I did have more quiet and peace to listen more readily to God, and didn't buck when He revealed His plan for my Lent. I can't tell you how many times I would unfold "my" plan for Lent to find that God's was completely different.
I started a bit early giving up Diet Coke, and we'll give up TV and some computer time, and we add more family prayers and for me personal prayer time. My biggest goal is to get up earlier in the morning.
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kristinannie
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 8:13pm | IP Logged
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Last year I gave up meat. It was a toughie, but so worth it. I am doing that again this year. I love the walking idea!
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 8:21pm | IP Logged
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That is interesting... in the past few years I have come to enjoy Lent very much. Oh, I fail as often as anyone... probably more so because I tend to be too ambitious starting out.
But what I like about Lent is that I can really focus on weeding out things in my house and my life that need to go...and concentrate on Jesus.
I'm not having to decorate, buy gifts, send out Lent cards or bake Lent cookies, you know?
I find that Advent, for me, can be full of pressure and distractions, while during Lent I'm just on my own trying to offer a humble gift to God.
And Easter seems doubly joyous after the solemnity of Holy Week.
We all fail. Even Peter and the other disciples failed. But if you take the Wayne Gretsky approach: the only true failure is not trying (or something like that ), then it's not so bad. I always learn a lot from my failures, too.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 8:29pm | IP Logged
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My most fruitful Lent was my most painful.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 8:32pm | IP Logged
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I hit post too soon. I meant to say that for me, it's easier to think of Lent in terms of fruitfulness rather than "good". I don't always (ever) enjoy the pruning, but it's usually fruitful, and though I can't usually see the fruit immediately, looking back I can see.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Feb 11 2012 at 8:35pm | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
what I like about Lent is that I can really focus on weeding out things in my house and my life that need to go...and concentrate on Jesus.
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I think this is a good point, and one I too enjoy about Lent. I sort of feel like I can get down to business, and in that sense, it feels like there is potential for the Holy Spirit to work with me.
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Jen Mackintosh
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Your best Lent
