Day 3 of Lent
February 20, 2010
Why is it that after stating my decision to give up swearing for these forty days of Lent that everyone on the road is cutting in front of me, just to challenge me I’m sure, as well as the grocery line has been the absolute longest it has ever been when I’m in a hurry. Where are all these people coming from? And what about my UPS package that was supposed to be here today? What happened to that, huh?
An interesting observation about myself is that before something has happened I’m already onto the next thing in my mind. Is sacrificing something during these days of Lent to bring me back to the present time and space? Is it a disruption in my daily routine so that I begin to notice things around me? Or are these forty days of Lent about giving me those AHA! moments so that I can be grateful more often?
I’ve also learned that Lent is actually 46 days, but no one really talks about that. Have you pulled out a calendar lately and counted the days, well I have. And sure enough, it’s 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. The Catholic Church says that the seventh day or Sunday is a day of rest. What does that mean exactly? Does that mean I get to swear every Sunday? Or am I supposed to take those additional days and learn from them? I’m sure there is a lesson in here somewhere.
The other thing I have asked myself is that in stopping to swear, does that also mean I can’t even think the swear words or write them down? Is that the same thing? So far in the last three days I have slipped several times verbally but the hardest part has been to control my thoughts. This journey has made me notice that these words come with a lot of judgment about others. You certainly are never saying anything nice about someone or something when you are swearing. So I have begun to notice the negativity that surrounds these words and my mind; which is a pretty funny thing for me because I consider myself a positive person. Imagine what I am missing out on.
AHA moment, as I clean up my mouth I am also cleaning and clearing up my mind. Who would have guessed? How is your journey coming?
