The Lenten Season is Here

Lent began this week and as I was thinking about whether or not to give anything up for lent I reflected on things I had given up in the past. The list runs from the typical- giving up pop, sweets, chocolate, to the not so typical...a few years ago, I even decided to give up my angry (somewhat hateful) feelings that I had towards our country's president. As humorous as that sounds, it really was a good thing for me. I remember asking my mom how I should go about that task and she simply said, "bless him, each day, ask God to bless him." I did that and I can't say when lent was over I continued doing that, but I did try to let go of the angry feelings. With all the political mess that there is right now from the Tea Party *bless them...nice thoughts...* to the Republicans and Democrats, to everyone who is trying to make decisions that will affect so many...cutting union rights, teacher jobs, health care, war policies, etc...you think there would be so much more good done in the world if we would bless our leaders instead of trying to constantly do battle with them. Wow...I guess I will get off my little homemade soap box now to continue on with what I was getting to...Lent this year!

I am giving up....

my clothes dryer.

I know, it doesn't sound very exciting or even make sense. Allow me to explain.

Last Sunday, our little family of four woke up to a cold house. As in, our furnace was NOT working! We called the heating guy who said he would be over later that afternoon and we headed out to church. Long story short, our furnace was not fixed until Monday mid-morning. Instead of being upset by this, *positive thinking* it just made me so incredibly thankful that heating our house and keeping my kids warm and cozy was something that just never crosses my mind. It made me think about moms all over the world and that for some, keeping their children warm is a constant struggle/worry for them. So...as I was reflecting on this experience I decided that maybe for lent, I could give up another modern convenience a lot of mothers around the world do not have the luxury of having- my clothes dryer. For some of you, this may not be a big deal. My SIL, Rachel has the most gigantic wooden clothes drying rack ever known to man and I think uses it pretty much all the time. I am such an anti-drying rack person, I won't even dry blankets on the clothes line in the summer time! I love my dryer and I love how the clothes smell when they come out of it. So, in conclusion, I have decided to give up using my dryer for "main" drying purposes. I will use it to finish off my clothes (make them soft and fluffy and smell good) after they have dried the majority of the way on the drying rack. We will see how this goes.

So, there you have it. In an effort to stand in solidarity with those who have less, I am giving up my dryer for lent.