Lental paralysis

Day 1 of lent, and already I have a cloud of #failure hanging over me. I have decided to take up the challenge of eating healthily, which basically means for the next 40 days, I'm giving up everything I enjoy. With the exception of air. At 10.23 this morning, I picked up the GI recipe book and read these lines "while you are on the GI diet, it's important not to give up snacks. You should snack 3 times during the day".

See, for one embarking on a new healthy eating regime (I prefer this phrase to 'diet'...) this makes joyous reading. So I effortlessly skipped out the bit before and the bit after which gave more specific guidelines on snacking and before you could say "glycemic index" I had neatly disposed of 3 biscuits leaving little evidence of crumbage.

I think there's another bit in my book that tells me what sort of snacks are allowed. It's probably something dull like celery sticks and limp lettuce. And oxygen.

In the past, I've considered lent nothing more than a speedy downhill path to failure. Perhaps it's easy to get discouraged when you try to do difficult things. There's a risk involved. We could let others down. And personally, I'd rather not take that risk. It's interesting that the disciples also dealt with a similar issue, falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane, unable to keep watch and pray while Jesus is a stone's throw away on his knees. Knowing, that in a short time he would be questioned by the authorities, unfairly tried, unjustly punished and brutally beaten. He told his disciples to just 'watch and pray'.

Watch and pray. Difficult to do when you're asleep. But consciously and actively, be alert. And be aware that it will be difficult, but don't. Give. Up.

I think Jesus knew that his trusted friends would let him down. And he still had oodles of forgiveness for them. Forgiveness, beyond measure. Take Peter. He claimed he'd never leave Jesus' side, yet publicly disowned him in his hour of need. How painfully aware he must have been of his own hypocrisy. And yet, it's through Peter that God establishes some of the early churches, building up the faith of believers through his letters and revelations. That. Is reconciliation. Forgiveness. Grace.

So, if you have given something up for lent, be encouraged: there is grace - the mc-whopper-full fat version.

And if you haven't given anything up, and you're more in the 'I want to take up something healthy' camp, check out these quality films on 24-7 prayer. Be watchful and prayerful. Be active in seeking God in this season.

And be blessed, whatever you decide to do or not do in the next 40 days.