Could This Be the Lent?

Happy Ash Wednesday!!!!

Just kidding, it's not happy.

I hate Lent.

Hate, hate, hate.

As soon as anyone tells me I can't eat meat or snack between meals, ALL I WANT TO DO IS EAT MEATY SNACKS ALL DAY LONG.  Any other day, I could care less about meat, but on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays during Lent, I'm like what am I supposed to cook????

I know it's a character flaw.  It must be the sin of pride.  I want to be so saintly and accepting of sufferings thrown my way, but I am pitiful at it and hear myself complaining.  I pray to be a little more docile and a little less um, fighting Irish.  When am I going to get to that place?  

Could this be the Lent?

I think I need to change my attitude about Lent and make it more like my attitude about life.

Because the older I get, the more I have this thought: 

My "hard" life is full of so many good things.

When I start thinking about how hard it is to juggle all of the kids' needs and work a job I don't love to provide for my family and grocery shop and cook and clean and walk the dog and nurture my marriage and make time for family and friends and workout and feed the fish and drive the kids to their practices and lessons and games and don't even get me started on the laundry...

I literally pause.  Take a breath.  And realize...

I am living the life I always wanted.

I always dreamed of a loving, generous, handsome husband with whom to start a big crazy family full of funny, sweet, intelligent kids.  I hoped to live near the coast, surrounded by family, with good schools and great friends.  I prayed for a marriage and family where God was first and we would help each other get to Heaven.

So yeah, I am truly grateful for my life.  I can see that the "hard" parts are really just part of the whole package with all of the "easy" parts.  And you know, I'm not ignoring the hard parts, but hard doesn't equate to bad.  Just as easy doesn't equate to good.  Everybody is healthy and happy and thriving and what more could I desire?  I am so blessed.

I need to start viewing Lent in this same way.  

Each day when I want to eat the cookie or don't feel like praying the rosary, I need to stop and remember that these little inconveniences are just part of the journey, and for the most part that journey is so good.  Those sacrifices will lead to the eternal life I've always wanted.

Without the rain, there is no rainbow.  

Without the suffering, there is no joy.  

My kids certainly inspire me by their Lenten sacrifices:

So maybe this could be the Lent that I embrace the hard after all.  Let's do this!