I never really believed in giving something up for Lent for most of my life. It felt sort of futile. Last year, I made a challenge to give up something that I, one, knew would be difficult and, two, would be beneficial. I resolved to only eat out one meal a week. I stuck to it pretty well and by Easter I not only felt better, but had probably dropped about 5 pounds.
This year, I will try again, but this time with what may be the biggest challenge I have, cleanliness. I believe it's genetic. I was born a messy person. Try as they might, my parents, specifically my mother, could not get me to keep my room clean as a child, a teenager and now into my adult life, I still cannot keep things clean. Putting dishes in the dishwasher, hanging up clothes, it's just not something I have in my DNA. It's not like I don't like having things organized, I just can't keep it that way. I can clean my desk and work and within a few days, it's covered in papers.
I can't tell you how many times Greg asks if I'm going to start keeping things clean when we get married. Really, it's to early to tell. Honestly, he's not Mr. Clean himself, so he has no room to complain. So this Lenten season will be my test. Just like last year, I am starting a week or two early. Lent is March 9, but my goal is to get everything cleaned before then so my only real challenge is keeping it neat, rather than doing an all out ceiling to floor wash.
Maybe it will bleed over into the rest of my life. Maybe, if I can keep all my material things in order, the rest of my life will get in order too.
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