Mardi Gras

When I was in college I dreamed of going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Really anytime I could sin and get away with it, I was so gung ho about it. Tonight, my plan is to finish this blog, get ready for work tomorrow, and make banana bread. I live such an amoral life. Mardi Gras is that one day of excess before the deprivation. This may not be news (or perhaps it is) but tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of the most important time period of the Christian calendar. For the 40 days leading up to Easter, Christians search for something to sacrifice. Maybe coffee, or candy, or meat, but either way we look to give up something that has or is becoming a vice. 

I have no idea what to give up. I don't drink a lot of coke, I don't eat fast food, I'd be a raging, psychotic (more psychotic) bitch if I gave up coffee, and giving up sweets just seems cruel. Ideally I'd give up sweets, since lately I've been having them way too much. I mean isn't that the point? Or is the point to be more Christ-like? What is Christ-like?  

To tread on quicksand, I think that Lent could make us less Christ-like. What people tend to forget is that Jesus himself was human. He had to be, to be able to understand the human experience. He had to know love, joy, sadness, regret and sin. This was necessary so that he could become the scapegoat for Man's sins. 

Is Lent just an excuse to practice temporary self-control? All you have to do is give something up for a little over a month, and then Wam! We totally understand what Jesus went through. Shouldn't the goal be to practice more regular self-control? Instead of giving something up for 40 days and then forgetting about it, this year I may just tally how often I have sweets and should have no more than 5 days. I need to get back to eating the sweets just once a week. This Lent will be more about reform and less about sacrifice.