Not in my house, though. I know myself and Jesus well enough to know that one way to get me to the peace found only in Christ is a big fat Snickers bar or a caramel macchiato.
Being the good Catholic mother that I am, I took Miss Ana to church this afternoon. At one of the convents/schools in Cholula (aka the city with 365 churches, one of every day of the year, no joke) the friars give out ashes all day long. I don't know that they are officially called friars, but they wear brown robes and rope belts and look just like Friar Tuck, so friars it is. Ana and I walked in and she got psyched. One of her favorite things to do is go and see Papa Dios.
She liked it right until the exact moment the friar slapped some ashes on my forehead.
Screams. Tears. Yelling.
Apparently she doesn't like so much that from ashes we have come and to ashes we will return. Or maybe she doesn't really want to repent and live the gospel. I don't know, but what I do know is that church has some excellent acoustics. Those screams reverberated with great magnitude.
In my case, my Lenten goal is to get out of bed when the alarm goes off every morning. Want to know why? I knew you did. I've learned about myself that I have a hard time separating the happenings of the world around me with my personal outlook on life. Meaning that since this has been a hard year at school, I've begun to convince myself that everything else pretty much sucks, too. The drivers speed, cut me off, and I begin to believe that people really only care about themselves. Which, in reality, is so not true.
I have a beautiful and loving family both near and far. I have a child who rocks my world. I have a husband who loves me. I have a job where I have potential to grow. I have friends both near and far. I have a roof over my head that isn't just a roof but our own home. I have dreams that are coming to fruition. I am challenging myself to grow as a teacher. And I have two new pair of shoes and when I wore one pair, my feet weren't bleeding or killing me at the end of the day.
There is so much good.
There is so much hope.
My goal is to get up every morning and remember that. Not dread the day ahead, but be thankful that I have a day ahead of me full of possibilities. There is always the possibility that the day will completely blow, but there's also the possibility that it will rock.
Plus, if I get up earlier, there's more time to drink coffee before work.
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