It takes 40 days to break a bad habit, never a bad idea when seeking to follow Christ.
Last year, for Lent, I gave up bad-eyeing/ bad-mouthing bad drivers on the Freeway for Lent. It really clarified for me how often I do this (Los Angeles has many bad drivers) and I was challenged to change my ways.
The year before, the Lord had me select 5 (of the many...) people I really did not like (ok, 5 people I hated) and pray for them. One of them, about 4 months later, came up to me at a church picnic. I said, “I have been praying for you,’ very casually, as a friend. She was profusely grateful and said she’d had a terrible year (which explained why she’d been so rude to me the year before, which was why I put her on my Foe List, haha).
I find these exercises well worth pursuing. Self-control, reining in the passions, setting aside those things that hold me, choosing to do the right thing in every small situation and so to follow the Lord even more closely - this is Lent, to me.
I found that when you pray for someone, you usually end up liking them much more.
Years ago, I had a boss who, along with others, smoked in the office. At that time I had been a former smoker for c. 10 years. Of course his smoking drove me crazy but I had to work with the guy. A minister suggested that everytime I saw my boss smoking, I bless him.
So, I did, every time I heard him flick his bic. In just a couple of weeks, I could stand right next to his desk while the smoke blew up in my face from his ash tray and only think kind, generous thoughts about the smoker. Honestly.
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That's helpful, thanks. This year I'm trying to identify one specific thing that separates me from God the most and the most often. And I'm trying to find one simple new thing that will remind me of God's presence.
The second I think I have found. But the first... well, I'm hoping that at least the time in examination is well spent. :)