It is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season. 40 days or so leading up to Easter. It is traditional in different faiths to observe this time by giving up something, doing without, or just being extra mindful of what you have and how you can improve yourself.
In the last few years I have taken to cutting back on preparing one dinner a week and with the supposed savings I make little brown bags of things for the homeless. I put little affirmations in them and a piece of fruit, a bottle of water, crackers, granola bars and a wet-nap. That kind of thing. I found some little toothpaste samples I am going to put in bags till I run out.
I will do this again this year. I always have fun putting them together and carry around 5 bags with me every time I leave the house. They get really good responses from the recipients too.
I learned about a blog challenge called 40 bags in 40 days that lots of bloggers are going to participate in and put weekly updates on their blogs. It looks great. I think I might start it as well. Check it out and see what you think.
For me Lent is about stretching and expanding my spiritual self, finding new ways to put myself out there for my fellow man, not about "oh can I live without chocolate or chips for 40 days". Of course I can. But I want it to be about adding a new habit to my life that is meaningful.
How will you acknowledge the Lenten season? If you aren't Christian, would you consider using these 40 days as a time to look inward and start some type of meditation or even doing the 40 bags and de-cluttering your house?
Hey Lisa - I love this idea. Passed it on to my stepsister, who's been trying to rid herself of stuff for some time and having a hard time separating herself from the stuff! I've been doing this for several years now. I often go on a kick where I don't leave home without a bag of something to throw away or donate. It really does help to lessen the stuff load. Now that we're moving from a huge house to a moderately-sized apartment, we did some serious pitching and ditching before the packers got there. I think we still have too much furniture, but we'll figure that out once we're actually in the apartment! Good luck with this. Clearing my physical space certainly leads to clearing my mental space, and I need to guard all of that that I can!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing it. I WAS planning on "giving up" junk food, but I like this idea so much more.
ReplyDeleteI love that you do this :) I was debating yesterday on Lent. I have never given anything up before and was contemplating.....
ReplyDeleteI love the "40 bags" idea and forgot to mention it in my Lenten blog post.
ReplyDeleteLisaPie, I am sitting on a stool, looking into a house that has only 2 LaZBoys, a TV and a bean bag. I'm about as decluttered as it gets. And also too, I sent just about 40 truckloads of stuff to Goodwill as I was preparing the house in Austin to be sold. Can I use that as a down payment for Lent?
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