Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent for us Catholics. This won’t end until Holy Week, the first week or so of April. It’s traditional to give something up for Lent as well as fasting and abstaining from stuff, usually meat on Fridays. No meat isn’t any real big deal these days. More often than not, I prefer seafood. So it’s not really any sort of penance for me to have shrimp or fish tacos. Hell, I usually order that sort of thing when out anyhow.
My old pastor, Fr. Cliff had a great system for Lent. Rather than doing a penance and giving something up, use the time to change life habits, or create new, better ones. It was a way better method than giving something up that you’ll simply return to after easter.
I really enjoyed his homilies. He’s retired now, but he’s still active and posts his homily every week on facebook. You can read his “Cliff Notes” on facebook. Search for Cliff Smith. Facebook had issues with priests using “Fr.” prefix.
So I have a litany of things I want to accomplish in the next month or so:
- No caffeine. No tea, other than herbal. I think I’m building an allergy to either caffeine or the tannins in tea, so I’ll quit to see. If I find that’s true, I’ll quit for good.
- Get up at 6AM. For months, I’ve been getting up late, almost 7 AM. Not that I need to be up early. Long as I log in by 9, I’m good. But I’ve been finding that by the time I shower, feed me and the dogs, then walk them, I’m behind the curve. I get more done with that one extra hour. This one will be tough, but it needs to happen. I need to get back to that.
- I can use that extra time to improve my Spanish. I paid for Babbel. I need to use it.
- Maybe use that time to hit the range more often than I do. Hell, I’m paying for it.
- I need to be more diligent with my diet. I’m good during the week. I need to get back to minding it on weekends.
- It’s time to watch what I say. I found a great method for managing your mouth when you feel compelled to talk:
- Is it true?
- Does it need to be said?
- Does it need to be said now?
- Most important – Does it need to be said by me?
Those are the biggies. I need to apply that rule of talking to spending; Do I need this? Do I need it now? and maybe follow that with a budget. For instance, the Air Lift bags in the monster truck are dry rotted. The beast has trailer brakes, and Air Lift. Thing is, I don’t often pull a trailer. When I do, it’s never bigger than a 10′ cargo unit. No need for either, really. I think I’ll remove them and see how it goes. It’s $300 or more just for the bags. It’ll be easy to replace them. But I may not need to. If not, I’ll simply put the factory stops back in. The bottom mounts have to come out anyhow to replace them, so putting them back will be a breeze. I’ll disable the compressor, tape off the lines at the bag and leave the upper hardware.
I think I’ll give up watching those dopey manosphere videos. Much as I enjoy the sweet, sweet schadenfreude of these women that dumped the husbands taking an “L”. they really ought to be pitied. Most screwed their lives and have no idea that they did it. Whatever. They are getting what they deserve for the most part by what they did, then posting it on TikTok.
We’ll see how it goes.
Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, discouragement, lust of power, and idle talk. Instead grant to me, your servant, the spirit of purity, humility, patience, and love. My Lord and King, grant me the grace to be aware of my own sins and refrain from judging others; for you are blessed forever. Amen. — Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 A.D.)
Inspected By Pat 