Starting again

One nice thing about Lent being so long is that it's almost never too late to begin again. I usually find myself needing to do this five or six times over the course of the forty days no matter what I give up. This year I was so hopeful about my schedule plan because it seemed doable. And what good is penance if you can't do it? I wrote out a rough copy in my notebook and decided to try it out for the first half-week of Lent before typing it neatly and placing it in my planning notebook. I told myself I would follow this schedule to the letter unless my husband or the children needed me or I was too sick to get out of bed.

Ha. Never say unless. I don't really get sick all that often and the annual cold that comes around sometime late winter is enough to whine about but it certainly doesn't keep me in bed. My most recent ailment didn't keep me in bed, either, but it would have if I hadn't had children. I was sick like this once before and I spent a couple of weeks in bed that time. I won't give you all the gory details but I will tell you that mold makes me very, very sick. If I'm completely stressed out it exacerbates the effects of the mold. We've cleaned up more mold than I care to think about in the last week or so and I've been working on reducing stress in my life. I'm feeling well enough to blog, so I figure I'm well enough to give another go at my Lenten schedule. It's providential, I think, that I chose this particular discipline for Lent because I think the schedule will really aid in my recovery. It's balanced and generous but covers all the necessary chores and points of responsibility in my life. Just over a month until Easter. Plenty of time to grow in holiness.