Quick Takes Volume 11: Lent Week One

1.

So, it seems people are giving up the compulsion of escaping from life to internet this Lent. Me? Nah. I've probably been more immersed in it than I have in previous weeks, to be fair - I've started getting organic fruit, veg, meat & assorted other goodies from Abel and Cole, so I'm re-inspired (if there is such a word) to cook and create. Except, we're trying to eat simply for Lent. So, there's my first Lent challenge!

2.

I should possibly challenge myself to turn TO my blog this Lent, as my entries this year have been very sporadic. It's not as if there has been a lack of things to log. My ministry training is pretty amazing at the moment, including a placement at a local hospital chaplaincy. My husband helped organise a local Beer Festival last weekend. We all recently had time off from school and work and had fun together. I even took photos. Which haven't made it online. Yet, I'd like a living, breathing document of what we all get up to - we'll see if it it gets re-prioritised (if that, too, is a word.)

3.

For anyone out there who is still maintaining interest in our non-existent fish. You may be pleased to hear that my husband has repositioned the fishtank, wired it in, applied 'trunking' (I just learned this existed) over the wire - and I have put together the amazingly complicated filter system and glued the background on. Once my elder daughter goes and chooses the tank decorations, we can put in the gravel and water, and are good to get fish!!!....once the water has settled for a week and its ph levels are OK. (Is it just me who finds this amazingly complicated? God did wonders with the oceans, I am convinced our fish will die within days. Or at the very least when we go on holidays.)

4.

I did finally get my Kindle, too! (I am sure there are at least two of you who have lost sleep over my agonising decision.) There weren't any old-heavy-ones-with-a-keyboard left, so my husband got me the newbie-light-version-thingy (technical terms, obviously), and it's quite a useful (if distracting) addition to my bedside. I haven't spent a great deal of money, and I have to confess I find the Kindle store very difficult to browse so need to make time at the computer to shop - but I have some G K Chesterton on there and downloaded some of the very cheap classics - St Augustine, St Ignatius, St Teresa of Avila & Julian of Norwich, for starters. Any other recommendations for spiritual bedtime reading much appreciated.

5.

We aren't doing anything huge for Lent, just the usual, although I'm finding Sarah Reinhard's 'Welcome, Risen Jesus!' a blessing, as we did her Advent/Christmas book....FirstSister was so delighted there was a companion volume she almost jumped up and down in excitement! I can also recommend Janet Morley's The Heart's Time which is not only feeding my spirit but my love of poetry. As well as eating more simply, we're thinking about our giving this Lent - we have some charities to choose. The kids are finding the Lenten Path calendars from Catholic Icing useful in getting a bigger picture. Next week FirstSister starts First Communion classes and, if all is well, will receive her first Holy Communion on Easter Sunday. So there are additional reasons to look forward to Easter!

6.

Another thing I do in Lent is tempt myself by ordering in all the Easter treats I won't get to eat for weeks...now, actually, I don't do this on purpose, but I have been staring today at a delicious Simnel Cake and an Italian cake in the shape of a dove, which is for Easter breakfast, which arrived courtesy of Lakeland Limited.

                                    

What I can't have....yet!

7.

I have actually been quite hungry yesterday and today, and stopping myself from shoving food in my mouth just because I can. It's already given me pause to think of my attitude to food, and of others, and to realise what nourishes me, physically, emotional, spiritually. A little girl we sponsor through Compassion has her birthday this month, and the children immediately brought her to mind when we spoke of children going to bed hungry. If this is the major theme of my Lent, I will be fulfilled, I think....hopefully there will be another small epiphanies, but this will do as a start.

* with thanks to Jen Fulwiler @ ConversionDiary.com for hosting - head over there now and read a whole load of other Quick Takes!