Resolutions for Lent 2014!

Oh Goodness gracious!!!

As If I didn't have enough resolutions already...

So, good people of Israel, let's make some Lent Resolutions for 2014!

I have been thinking about what to give up for lent, because you know, you cannot be a good christian unless you make vane resolutions that you'll probably give up after a couple of days.

So being the good (and apparently humble) christian that I am, I'm making some lent resolutions!

Keeping with the dietary adventure theme of last year's resolution (I was a vegetarian for lent) I am making a diet resolution!

So here it is, my little and probably painful lent resolution: limit my calorie budget to 2,000 calories!

Wait what?! That seems like a lot of calories right?

In a way yes, but given how tall and big I seem to be, in order to maintain my current weight I'd have to inhale 2,900 calories a day! Now that is a lot of calories.

It is unfortunately, what I'm used to. And a little more.

I am embarrassed to admit what I have written here before: I'm addicted to food! Especially bacon. And maybe sausages. Okay definitely bacon and sausages.

In all honesty I don't want to be addicted anymore. I don't like being addicted. I don't like being overweight. And I'm tired of putting up goals I never fulfill.

This is a great opportunity for me to (once again) tackle this head on.

I'm usually consistent with my lent resolutions, if strangely enough more so than my New Year's Resolutions, so this little and probably painful lent resolution should be interesting!

What are you giving up for lent? Do you make resolutions? Why or why not?

Lent MEME!

This LENT MEME is very easy to follow. 

RULES

1   Copy paste this post on your Blog.

2   Contact as many other Bloggers as you like and leave them this comment: "You have been tagged for the LENT MEME on my Blog".

3   And now the difficult bit: Do someone a good deed. Anyone. Relative, friend or stranger. Any good deed. Saying a prayer for someone in need. Helping an old person with shopping, transport, gardening. Visiting a sick person. Giving some money to charity.

Just use your imagination and do any good deed.

If you are greedy you can do more than one good deed. To more than one person. You can do a good deed every day of Lent if you wish. The minimum is just one good deed.

4   That's it. I can't think of any other rules.

5   Thanx. God bless.

Thanks to Victor S E Moubarak for tagging me for this meme. He is a Catholic English author and you can find his reflections on his blog here.

God bless you!

So What Are You Giving Up For Lent?

Let's make more resolutions good people of Israel! I certainly need more of those, because, oddly enough, I keep forgetting about the hundred more I made before.

Lent is a time where we concentrate on our relationship with God, examine ourselves and see what is obstructing us from growing more in intimacy with Him.

It's also a great time for diets and countless temporary sacrifices that makes us miserable!

All kidding aside, Lent is not an opportunity to just make us better, lose weight or improve some areas in our lives. It is not about being self-absorbed in an ego-centric improvement track.

Lent is not about us, so let's get over ourselves.

Lent is more about our communal relationship with others and God. For if we grow in relationship with God we glorify God, and that should be our goal, glorifying God in everything that we do (1 Corinthian 10:31).

Yes, Lent is about preparation for the believer, and there is some sacrifice. But sacrifice is empty without love, and love impossible without intimacy. Sacrifice flows naturally, and dare I say many times sweetly, when is made out of love for God.

I remember when my sister came and visited us. She recently had her first baby. We took her to the mall to buy some clothes, and at one point she expressed "I can't believe this, but before I would get excited about buying clothes for myself, but now all I can think of is what to get for my little daughter".

This self-denial in her flowed naturally from her motherly love.

So let us plunge joyfully into this desert of yes, self denial, but more importantly, little acts of self giving love.

Here are my Lenten resolutions!

Eat Lent soup! What better way to celebrate and glorify this glorious season with some delicious, hot, and nutritious Lent soup? Screw fish! I'll have me some soup every Fridays.

No just kidding, here they are.

Receive communion a minimum of 3 times a week.

I know of no better way to have a more intimate connection with Christ than to receive His body and blood in the Eucharist. This should be no sacrifice at all, but a delight to partake of such precious meal.

Fast at least once a week.

Fasting not only showcases and makes tangible our need for God, for in our weakness and hunger we can fill our lives with Him, but it also connects us and increases our empathy for the poor, who can involuntarily go hungry for days.

Eat meat only twice a week.

Meat should be a luxury item in our diets, not an expected commodity. Besides the obvious health benefit of this, it is also a good way to care for creation, for the way meat is mass produced is certainly abusive.

So there they are! I will update regularly on how I'm doing with these resolutions. So what are your Lenten resolutions?