Easter is my favorite holiday. Better than Christmas, Thanksgiving, and my birthday all rolled into one. Rebirth. Resurrection. Unadulterated joy! But it’s not just Easter Sunday that gets me. It’s the whole process from Ash Wednesday (March 2) to Holy Week (April 10-17).
The Eastern Orthodox Church calls this the season of “bright sadness” and that’s it exactly. A gloriously bittersweet season that I get to revel in each spring. And while not all Christians make it a practice to fast during Lent, I really like finding something to focus on for 40 days. I’ve fasted from candy, French fries, credit cards, fear (that was a doozy!), and pride among other things. And I often share about my fast here on my blog as a way of being accountable.
So what will it be in 2022? Are you ready for this? Am I?!?
Interrupting people.
Yeah. I’m cringing just putting that out there. You know how it is. You have something SO important to say. And you already know the rest of your friend’s/husband’s/child’s sentence. So you just jump in all over the tail end of what someone else is saying. Or, worse, you cut them off completely, essentially erasing whatever it is they’re trying to tell you.
I do this. And people do this to me. It’s efficient–right? Time is so short. Why waste it listening to something you don’t need to?
Ugh. Listening. That would be the flip side.
In addition to fasting from something for Lent, I often ADD something as well. The year it was the Fruit of the Spirit was wonderful. Seems like listening–really, truly listening to others would be the perfect thing to add in 2022.
With tomorrow being Fat Tuesday–the day people traditionally overindulge in preparation for fasting–I guess I have one more day to interrupt and ignore people! And after that if you see me–if you TALK to me–you have my full permission to call me out if I interrupt or fail to hear you out. Here goes . . .
You are so right about interrupting someone. I get called out on that daily…. We are so busy with “our” lives, we forget to honor others!!!!! Lord, please help to remember to respect other people and their thoughts…
Thank goodness I’m not the only one!
During lockdown I honored the lent tradition by making a daily phone call to someone I don’t usually talk to or even see… ( I don’t like to call people… maybe goes back to my teenage party line when I could only use the phone for important calls.. )… anyway it turned out to be such a blessings I will do it again this year…. what am I giving up? My pride in fearing such a call might not be welcomed.
What a FABULOUS Lenten practice! I LOVE this!!
I am bad at interrupting, too. Just think it is a waste of my time when someone goes on and on but now I will have to remember what you are doing!
Peggy
We can encourage each other!