Ah Lent....Ah Yes! "Give It Up For God!"

Okay, this is a subject that I think, many times, individuals look at differently. I grew up Catholic. I haven't been Catholic in over 35 years. I quit going to the Catholic Church for the very spiritual reason of: I had to wear a dress and I couldn't wear pants. I was 15.

Anyway, I don't recall giving anything up for Lent as a child. I strongly suspect, that if I did, I usually gave up after one or two days and went back to being the spiritual sluggard that I was as a child. When I got "saved" and began going to Charismatic Churches, "fasting" was looked on as "legalistic". It was something only traditional churches did. Then when I began going to a "seeker sensative" Nazarene Church, I gave up TV one Lent. It was very difficult because it was during the 2nd season of "Survivor". Anyone who knows me, I am a die hard "Survivor" addict. My Mom and Aunt Pauline and all my male relatives are crazy about football. I am just as crazy about "Survivor". I yell at the screen, I talk to the competitors, I moan and groan at their obvious stupidity at believing blatent liars: it's literally a spiritual thing for me. So giving up TV that Lent was a huge for me.

For the past four years I've given up eating solid foods during the day and only eating a meal (or a meal and ten snacks) after 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Being a diabetic, I've been very careful to check my sugar, I drink juice and have a glucerna shake for lunch to make sure I keep my sugars in control. Not only has this been good spiritually for me, but it has always been good for me physically.

Now there are those who believe that a person should not go on this type of a "fast" to lose weight. That "fasting" (in the Biblical sense), should be for spiritual reasons alone. I look at it this way. I believe that God created man to be "spiritual" and that we choose to lean toward the "flesh" side of things when we choose to go our own direction instead of God's direction. Eating, for me, is not only "physical", but "spiritual". Why? Because I have made it an "idol". I think about food all of the time. I wake up thinking about it. I plan meals when I should be working. I consume not only food, but cooking shows and recipes and will talk about it with friends and family and acquantices and even strangers with incredible passion and enthusiasm. Now what if I transferred that same passion and enthusiasm to God. I consumed the Bible and planned time with God and talked about Him all of the time. Man, I'ld be a real spiritual giant, wouldn't I. So I feel that when a person "fasts" something that means that much to them, that they deny those things that strengthen the "flesh" and they strengthen the "spiritual" in their lives.

My problem isn't with my outward appearance, it's with how much food I consume and the way I think about it all of the time. So I don't fast to lose weight, I fast to help me control my "eating" and to grown closer to God in the process.

You know what I find strange? I've chosen now to begin a blog focusing on the food I grew up eating. It includes recipes and so I find that I'm still thinking about food. I guess the difference is, I write about it, I don't consume it.

So now that I've said all of this, how are you dealing with Lent? Have you given something up? What do you think?

Check Out My New Blog....Contento Cuisine

Contento, Salamida, and Ciavarella. These are the families that influenced who I am and how and what I ate. Come and read about us and see the recipes of the food that was and is a part of who we are.

There are pictures and stories about our family and recipes of the foods we loved. Check it out!

"Blissfully Free......"

I am in a mood!


This morning my husband said to me something about me having "a pirate's ransom of emotions." I quickly countered. I told him he was "blissfully free of the ravages of intelligence."


Actually, I've been feeling "blissfully free of the ravages of intelligence".


The truth is, I feel dumb. That's right....dumb. I have friends who went to seminary or Nazarene schools. Their knowledge of the Bible is amazing or they just know big words. They talk about the alumni.


Me? I graduated from high school....just barely. I took a couple of college classes back in the 70's. One was shorthand and the other was typing. I did ace them both and had a 3.60 average. Truth is....I don't think shorthand exists anymore and typing is now called "keyboarding". So alot of good it has done me.


I went to beauty school. I did finish. It took me three times to pass my state boards. But I hate doing hair. I finished school because my father said I wouldn't. (I never finished anything).


So here I am. I'm 52 and dumb.


I'm not writing this to let the world know what an idiot I am. I'm just feeling very insecure about my future. I also feel insecure about my relationships with people. I've heard people make very unpleasant and insulting remarks about people who do not have a college degree. And I have sat there fuming, but unable to think of anything to say that would sound....(oh dear God).....intelligent.


I feel like....if these people knew how uneducated I was....would they still be my friends? Or would they think less of me? I really think they would ( think les of me). I've heard how they talk about uneducated people.


There is a glimmer of hope here. I heard in church recently (and I knew this, but it just never clicked) that Jesus's apostles were uneducated men and look at the impact they made on this world. They were lousy, stinkin' fishermen. At least that is what people probably thought about them. They didn't know the Torah.


I wish I could remember that little piece of information when certain people are going on and on about how unproductive a person is unless they have a degree. But then again, the person I'm thinking of really would care less about the apostles.


I guess I just needed to write and, lucky you, you get to read about it.


I wouldn't mind going to school now. I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up and financially it would be impossible. I just think that now, at the age I'm at, I could sit and focus and not be thinking about the guy two rows over or where my friends and I are going tonight. I really wasn't ready for school, back in the day. I think I am now.


Great. Just a few years shy of retirement. (sigh)