Lent: Time

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead!!  That’s right, Daylight Savings Time begins today.  That means it will be much darker when I leave the house at 5:30 AM (drat!), but it will stay lighter much later in the day (hooray for walks in the woods with Ginger!)

That got me to thinking about time --- as I prepare for my Easter celebration. 

One of the things that makes this all work for me and for our family is time.  I have time to prepare.  I have time to ready the house, time to shop, time to prepare a special meal, time to decorate.  I keep reading about how we as a generation have less leisure time than previous generations --- but we still have plenty of time.  More than many in our world. 

In part, that’s because we have so many labor saving devices that make time for us --- I don’t have to spend a whole day down at the river pounding my laundry on rocks to get it clean.  I don’t even have to spend the whole day at the Laundromat getting my clothes clean.  I can put a load in the washer and then go about other things in my day.  When its done, I move it to the dryer and I move back to doing other things.  The laundry does not totally consume my time (we just got our dryer fixed yesterday, so I’m a little laundry focused right now --- and appreciative of our newly functioning dryer!!)

I have time.  I can go for a walk in the woods with Ginger.  I can sit and read a book or mess around with this blog.  I can spend a half an hour futzing with the mantle to make it look the way I want it to look.  This afternoon we’re spending time with friends – doing nothing.  Sure, the guys will watch the games and we’ll make pizza together for dinner.  But mostly, we’ll be doing nothing.  We’ll just sit and talk and enjoy each other’s company.  None of us will feel the need to multi-task because our families will starve or freeze if we don’t (how do you think quilting bees and husking bees got started?).  We’ll just idle away the afternoon – and enjoy time.  

Time is a precious gift that I let slip past me all too often.  I let time pass unnoticed and unappreciated.  My challenge this week is to notice time and to appreciate it.  Sitting for just five minutes each morning and evening to spend some quiet time and appreciate that time is the challenge for this week.  Whether your tradition leads you to pray, to meditate or simply to sit quietly and notice the luxury of time --- appreciate some time this week.  

Lent: Education

This is the final week of the Lenten “Get ready, get set” calendar (hmmm, wonder why its only four weeks?? --- Lent is longer than that.  Maybe this really is Lent-Lite??)  I’ll still continue my preparation for Easter, both physical and mental/spiritual --- but without the help of the calendar. 

This week the calendar focuses us on thinking about education.  It pointed out that over a billion people entered the 21^st Century unable to simply sign their names – that’s a very minimal measure of literacy!!  These folks have never read a book, have never perused a blog, never heard of Shakespeare, Dante, Edith Wharton or even Twilight (another fairly low measure of literacy).  What this means, is that they don’t have access to a way to make their lives better. 

Think about it.  You and I have access to a world of information and knowledge.  We can learn to do virtually anything.  We can audit classes at MIT (really, you didn’t know that?? Click here --- its free --- really).  We can learn to build furniture (see Ana’s blog here) or cook (I’m not giving you links on this one – there are too many) or anything else we want to learn.

For those of us who ride “on the coattails” this is what gives us the power to make our lives better.  We can access information, instructions, and inspiration for improving the quality of our lives without spending a ton of money.  We can learn the things our mothers never taught us (like how to clean a shower curtain or how to manage a budget or whatever). 

This week, I’m focusing on being grateful for my education – and for the continuing education it affords me.  I’ve learned to read and to write – and to run a computer marginally well --- well enough to make it find what I want on the web, anyway.  That all affords me access to more information than I could possibly process in a lifetime.  That’s something to be grateful for!  Every time I turn on my computer, I’m celebrating my education.  Every time I read ANYTHING --- even the back of the cereal box (yes, that’s a bad habit of mine), I’m celebrating my education.  When I read the words to the hymn I don’t know in church, I’m celebrating my education.  How will you celebrate your education this week?? Get ready, get set --- Easter is coming.

Lent: Homes

This past week’s calendar focused on refugees --- its amazing to me that over 26 million people have had to flee their homes because of violence and unrest in their countries.  These are the people living in tent shelters that we occasionally glimpse on the television. 

I vividly remember a song by one of my favorite composers, Michael Kelly Blanchard, called Ethiopia.  He wrote it after watching a late night telethon for starving children in --- Ethiopia.  Its poignant and heartbreaking.  You can download and listen to it here.  And you can listen to some of Mike's other music for free here.  (YouTube is a wonderful thing sometimes --- but Ethiopia isn't on youtube)

These are people without a home.  That’s the part that is most disturbing to me.  Especially since I am so focused on home and making our home a nicer place to be. 

So, my challenge this week is to really appreciate my home.  I want to be thankful for all of the aspects of my home (especially when I’m sweeping or vacuuming or doing some other chore that I find to be drudgery)  I need to remember that somewhere in the world there is a woman who would LOVE to be sweeping a floor in her own home. 

This is especially important as I begin to decorate the house for spring and for Easter.  Its so easy to get caught up in the decorations and the frou-frou of it all.  I do all of that because I have a home.  My work decorating for Easter is a reflection of my gratitude for that home --- more so this year.

Lent: Water

This entire week on the “Get Ready- Get Set calendar” is all about water.  Its so easy to forget how much of the world cannot simply turn on the tap and get fresh clean water.  I remember living in China and craving a glass of ice cold water.  It simply was not a possibility.  All of our water had to be boiled for safety reasons.  The only way to be sure that water had been boiled was to drink it “boiling hot”.  I drank more cups of hot water than I care to remember.  Ice cold water just wasn’t safe. 

I think of that every time I read one of those fitness tips about drinking more water.  Or when Weight Watchers tells me I need to drink eight glasses of water every day.  I have a lot of nerve complaining about that.  There was a day (a very hot day, back in China) when I would have gladly downed all eight glasses as once --- as long as they were icy cold, clean, fresh water. 

So the challenge today is to drink more water --- and not complain about it!!  Make it a ceremony of sorts.  Find a fabulous glass and maybe a pitcher.  Slice some lemon or some cucumber.  Get some ice and some fresh, clean water.  Think of this as similar to a Japanese tea ceremony.  Its all about presence and mindfulness.  Pour the water, sip the water.  Feel it on your tongue.  Swirl it around your mouth like some snooty wine connoisseur.  Swallow and feel it slide down your throat.  Be thankful. 

Now --- no more swigging water mindlessly from Poland Springs bottles left on the counter over night.  After all, this blog IS about making life more beautiful and elegant.  Repeat that little water ceremony over and over and over again.  Water can be its own little elegant part of your life.  And you’ll be more thankful for it, too.  

Lent: Enough

So how are you coming with joining me in “get ready, get set”?  Are you feeling a bit more ready for Easter than last week at this time?  Is the thankfulness and preparation for celebrating seeping into your life yet??  Its starting to kick in around here. 

We’re cleaning up the Valentine’s Day decorations, changing over the mantle to something more springy (green – that will carry us through St. Patrick’s Day and Easter without a major change again) and putting away the Valentine’s dishes, glasses, napkins and other stuff.  The wreath on the door will change today too (stop by and see it, if you like)

I’m starting to think about my plans for Easter --- how I’ll make it special for all of us here, what I’ll do to celebrate and remember.  But I’m very struck by today’s calendar challenge for Lent:  40-50% of  all food ready for harvest NEVER gets eaten.  Now, some of that has to do with harvesting problems, industrial issues with planning and efficiency etc.  But some of that has to do with not finishing what’s on my plate and not eating leftovers before they go bad in my fridge.  Some of that 40-50% is my personal responsibility (and yours --- although probably you’re better about this than I am)  And, frankly, I’m worse when it comes to celebrations. 

At celebrations I always want there to be a feeling of plenty.  I usually can add a few people to the celebration at the last minute without over-stretching the food.  That says something about my planning for the celebration.  Yes, it makes it joyous – but wouldn’t it be joyous without so much wastefulness?  What if I didn’t over-do the food?  Would we still celebrate just as much?? I think yes. 

So my personal challenge this year is to plan Easter a little more carefully.  I’m trying to take into account “how much is enough?” and stay within that boundary.  That will still be “plenty” – but it won’t be “too much” and we won’t contribute to that 40-50% of food that never gets eaten in our world.  

Lent and Celebrations

So for those of you who “observe”, Lent officially begins today.  For those of us simply doing the “get ready, get set” (should we call this Lent-Lite??? – although spiritually, its not lite, is it??) we’ve already begun. 

Today’s challenge from the Lenten Calendar (wish I knew where Cindy gets this thing from??)  is:  The cost of a night on the town for a couple can provide emergency food supplies for a family of five for a month.  Wow --- think about that.  What we “blow” on a celebration (like Valentine’s Day this past weekend) can provide food for five people for a MONTH!!   Now, I know you and I are more frugal than most…. But still…… not that much more frugal!!  Even if my celebrations could only feed that family for 2 weeks or so.  I begin to feel my own decadence. 

But this is a season to “get ready” to celebrate Easter, not a season to beat myself up about my own decadence.  It’s a season to remember, be thankful, and demonstrate my gratitude with giving.  That’s why we do this project. 

The challenge in the calendar is to give according to the number of celebrations you’ve had in the past month.  My challenge to you is a little bit different:  estimate the cost of your last couple of celebrations (Valentine’s Day, birthdays etc)  Pick a number that fairly represents a “celebration cost”.  Divide by 14 (“even if my celebrations could only feed that family for two weeks or so…) and see if you can plan a day’s worth of food for that cost (sounds like an eat from the pantry challenge for the day, doesn’t it?)

Showing Love with Food

I know, I know --- You’re expecting a Valentine’s Day post including the mushy stuff about how we celebrate here without spending a ton of money.  Nope, sorry --- that ‘s not what you’re gonna get today (and yes we do celebrate --- and no, we don’t spend a ton of money!)

This is the time of year that our church begins thinking seriously about Easter --- sort of the “get ready, get set” for Easter.  We’re not huge into Lent, per se – most of the traditions that people associate with Lent just pass us by.  But, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we take some time to “get ready”.  It just makes Easter that much more meaningful for all of us (especially in this household, where Easter gets really, really hectic)

We participate in an ecumenical effort known as “One Great Hour of Sharing” and we use that offering as a way to ready our spirits and our minds to celebrate Easter.  So I thought that this month (okay, 40 days), I’d do my usual “Countdown” to a holiday (with all of the household getting ready stuff) AND share with you some of the more meaningful days of our countdown offering as well. 

Today the offering calendar asks us to think about a time someone showed us love using food – and then add our offering of thanksgiving for that person and their love. 

For me, the instantaneous thought was Mom.  I’ve shared before that we grew up poor.  My mother knew how to pinch a penny so tight that Abe Lincoln tried to run every time he saw her coming.  Food was one way she demonstrated love --- she cooked, canned, froze, baked and kept our family not only fed, but well fed every day of the week.  Holidays, she really went overboard, using frugal ingredients to make something special. 

But the time that first comes to my mind was about 12 years ago.  I had a very serious case of pneumonia and a collapsed lung.  I was stuck at home, in bed, and alone.  Mom dropped by every day with a bottle of juice, some soup, bread or other food fit for an invalid.  She quietly left it between my storm door and the front door for me to find whenever I awakened.  The cold weather kept everything naturally “refrigerated” for me.   It was such a quiet, gentle act of kindness and love.  And I am profoundly grateful for it to this day.