Today is Ash Wednesday, the day Western Christians begin the Lenten period of fasting in preparation for Easter (we Orthodox are running a bit behind our Western brethren and sistren this year). Warm wishes to you all, and prayers for a blessed Lent. I don't know about you, but I need Lent this year. On the most superficial level, my appetites got the best of me these past few months, and I need to fast, to regain control of them. But I also have a lot of repenting to do, and taking stock of the way I live. We as a culture do as well, and this "day of reckoning" (to use the president's phrase from last night) now upon us ought to be a time of sober reflection and repentance.
To start Lent, I would ask my readers to reflect on what you most need to repent of, and share it with us. Obviously only share as much as you're comfortable with. Please don't advise what the rest of us need to repent of. Focus on yourself, and your own life. Because there's not one of us who doesn't need to repent. If you think you don't, then you suffer from spiritual pride.
As for myself, I need to turn away from my lack of spiritual discipline, specifically in my prayer life. There is simply no way to live an authentically Christian life without more than minimal prayer. I make time for all kinds of things, but not regular prayer.
I also need to turn from my impatience with my children, especially my oldest son. He is a challenge to live with, but so many times I find myself speaking to him with sharpness that I only realize later wasn't right. It's not right, and I'm sorry about that.
There are other sins, of course, but those are the ones on my mind today. What about you, in your life?
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That's a good choice, Rod. As a fairly new father (ages 6½, 2½, and -7 months), I've caught myself speaking sharply to my daughter and son, usually without warrant. They're just trying everything out, not meaning to antagonize or disrespect their father.
The dawning moment for me (and, I hope, for every father of a girl) is when I realized my behavior will frame my daughter's relationship with every man in her future.
The same principle, in a different way, applies to sons.
We're giving up going out for meals, something we do far too much anyway considering our income. I fear economically for the hit our favorite local Japanese restaurant is going to take, though ;)
Where do I begin ?
I would say laziness. A lack of physical activity in general. I used to do some serious martial arts training, but after I blew out my ankle (and had it corrected), I never really got back into it. The need for billable hours does that to one.
Like you, Mr. Dreher, I haven’t been paying attention to my “prayer time” lately. Spiritual flabbiness.
Third, I suspect I have not been paying enough attention to my wife. (Not that she’s been saying anything directly, but one knows. One sees.)
SO....to correct matters:
20 minutes a day walking about;
20 minutes a day in prayer/Bible reading. The people at my church were kind enough to arrange for every family in the parish to receive a Lenten Daily Prayer Guide, with suggested readings;
And 20 minutes a day talking with/being with my wife. (This means probably 20 minutes less time writing monumentally long Beliefnet posts to you lads and lasses--You Have Been Warned.. Sorry, troops.)
Your servant,
Lord Karth
As long as I'm at it, Mr. Dreher, could I ask you a favor ? Would you be so kind as to describe for those non-Orthodox in Your Studio Audience the different fast periods during the year in Orthodoxy ? What you have to fast from in one time vs. what you have to do at a different time, and so forth.
I suspect some of us (myself included) would find that to be of much interest.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
My favorite online forums to which I've become heavily addicted. I chatter away and read others' chatter constantly neglecting the real people around me. And I'm doing the "fast" and "abstaining" on appropriate dates - a little more intensive than what the Church requires since that's next to nothing in modern vegan terms. (Oooo. We had PIZZA on Friday....don't hurt yourselves.)
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