Lent in Real Life: Week 2
To me, the rhythm of Lent is starting to feel like the new normal. The kids are still complaining about so much church, but with starting off with the Annunciation right after the first Sunday of Lent (which included Vespers), maybe they won’t think next week is quite so bad.
Still, life marches on whether we’re in Lent or not. We are looking to buy a house and we saw one we liked on Saturday and made an offer on Monday. Tuesday evening we learned we didn’t get it, which, honestly, I was okay with because while I liked certain things about it, there were other things I didn’t. But all that time between seeing the house and learning we didn’t get it, it was awfully hard to think about Lent although I sure did a lot of praying. Add in a power outage with an unexpected snow/ice storm, the weekend was hardly normal and I did my fair share of struggling.
Thankfully, I was blessed with the peace that surpasses understanding come Monday morning and it was a joy to celebrate Annunciation with Liturgy, fresh baked oatmeal, and a salmon supper with Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats to top it off.
Tuesday was the first day since starting Lent that was actually normal and it felt so good. Wednesday had Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, but as that is “normal” now that it Lent, that felt good too.
Thursday is my husband’s day off, and he gave me the day off. It was nice to hole up in my room and do some reflection, online shopping, and reading. Thrown in there was seeing another house that we promptly made an offer on. Now I can deal with more anticipation and wondering. So far, I feel like God is giving me peace no matter what happens. House hunting is not for the faint of heart! haha
Today has filled up with more tasks and to-dos than I’m comfortable with, but God willing it will all go smoothly and I am able to not stress too much about it all. And so far, Saturday is fairly open with its usual cleaning chores and planning.
I have kept up with my reading and Psalms mostly, but did forget to read the Psalms one day, so I just went on to the next and I am a day or two “behind” on The Lenten Spring. My morning practice of saying the Jesus Prayer during sunrise is a soothing anchor in my day, starting it off with some quiet and prayer. If I miss it, I just don’t feel the same.
I’m getting pretty tired of Lenten food (already!) and daydreaming of Chinese food since it’s the only kind of restaurant food I don’t miss dairy in. I know it will get easier, mostly, and that it just takes time to get over this hump.
I’m hoping next week will have chunks of normalcy in it like this week did, but I should probably mentally brace myself for the unexpected. Maybe it will at least have nicer weather…
I pray your Lent is going well, if not as expected, and that you have the grace you need for what is to come.
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