Breaking Lent

For Lent this year, I gave up meat. No beef, no chicken. I did allow myself to have fish on Sundays as a sort of "feast day," but otherwise, it was me and the vegetables. The first two and a little more weeks weren't too bad. I found several delicious vegetarian recipes and was surviving quite well. (My favorite recipe is Curried Spinach and Lentil Bake- amazing!!!) However, this last week and a half have been torturous. Church's friend chicken would just hit the spot, and I seem to be finding all of the meat fragrance spots no matter the parking lot in which I happen to be.

Yet, I find encouragement in my struggle. I am sacrificing something I love in recognition of letting go. From Ash Wednesday to Easter, each meal time is a remembrance of someone greater who reached out in love and lived among us in order to give us true life in this time and the next. There are other aspects of Lent to recognize and reflect, but as I actively take part this season, I take the time to release my "self" and give glory and honor to God as I await the celebration of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Slava na boga!!!

So, the reason I broke it today. I ate beef... (intentionally too.) However, it was in the greatest fellowship that I have experienced in so long with friends that I have not spent time with since before Thanksgiving. It may seem like I just caved, but I chose the importance of honoring another by accepting invitation and hospitality. You see, last fall I spent time with a few of the Latino families at my church. Our main connection was through Luis because he was the most comfortable talking with us in English, and he was our Spanish teacher. However, just before Thanksgiving last fall, Luis became very ill. In fact, he is still not recovered, and the doctors are still searching for answers and causes. For the past four months, we have not seen Luis and barely had any interaction with his family. While we continued to interact with other families at church, we kind of lost the "out of church" connection with the Latino congregation. It has been a sadness that I am just recently realizing. Well, today at church, Luis' wife invited a few of us over to celebrate a birthday of one of the other ladies at church. We jumped at the opportunity and had an amazing time eating, laughing, eating, talking, and then eating again. Lunch lasted a little over 5 hours, and if we didn't have homework (and actual work) to return to I have little doubt that we would have been there for dinner and close to "bed time" too. While the food was amazing, it was beyond-description-amazing to spend time with Luis and other friends talking about life and laughing with/at each other.

While I had a little extra on this "feast day," I am so rejuvenated and excited. I intend to finish Holy Week following my original Lent goals, but on this Palm Sunday, I celebrated. My soul (and belly) was filled with joy today. I thank God for these dear friends, for I feel so blessed in their presence.