Happy Lent!

Today we begin yet another new season of Lent to prepare us for the glorious celebration of Easter!
Ah, how I love Lent! Strange thing to say, I know... but I look forward to it every year. I love having an actual liturgical period set down on the calendar to specifically look at myself, search myself for areas I need to work on, find ways to 'purge' attachments in my life that are not holy. I think it's the more contemplative side of me that loves these opportunities, because it's almost an 'excuse' to take more time to examine myself and have a 'goal' in mind (holiness, of course! But I mean, even just nitty-gritty little goals to help me attain baby steps!) I LOVE the liturgical richness surrounding Lent and Easter...the focus on sacrifice, prayer, almsgiving; Stations of the Cross; the daily readings that prod us along towards Holy Week; even the traditions among different parishes, my personal favorite being 'soup dinners' every week at Church, where we can go to either Mass or the Stations (depending on the parish), and feed our soul and spirit first, then continue as a family and a community to feed our bodies with a simple meal of soup and bread. I love all the incredible things Lent offers us to teach our children. I always wondered, when M was just a baby, at what age children would really be interested and want to really try and 'participate' in the different riches offered during Lent. Today, I talked to M about Ash Wednesday and asked her if she wanted to 'give something up' for Lent this year. She tilted her head, closed her eyes a second, and pondered my question very sincerely. A moment later she informed me, "I think I'll give up picking my nose and watching movies." Wow. Now, I'm not joking when I say the nose picking thing is going to be an exceptionally difficult 'sacrifice' for my daughter! At any given moment during any day, I can look over at either my beautiful, sweet, proper 4 yr old daughter OR my sweet, rough and tumble 2 yr old son and catch either of them with a finger up their nose. It has become a constant mantra in our house lately: "Finger out of your nose! Stop picking!" So, when M declared that she was going to give this up for Lent, you will understand my great surprise and immense skepticism! Bless her heart- she recognized this, too, and her immediate follow-up comment was, "But, how am I going to be able to do this? It's going to be so hard!" I told her that Mama and Papa will help her by reminding her if we see her starting to pick, and even more importantly, we can pray and ask Jesus for grace to help her with this sacrifice. Never forgetting a single thing that is ever said, she did this very thing tonight during bedtime prayers. (After Papa saw her finger start to veer upward and gently reminded her of her 'nose-picking fast'), she bowed her head and prayed, "Dear Jesus, please help me not to pick my nose at all this Lent." And let me tell you- if my daughter can give this up for Lent, I better make sure I'm sacrificing something mighty difficult myself! Oh, the amazing things they teach us- even in the strangest things, like less than desirable habits! And how precious to a mother's heart to see her child actually wanting to sacrifice and participate in an opportunity to 'deny self' and demonstrate some self mastery...at age 4! If only I had such desires at 4 yrs old! At Mass tonight, she asked me, "How does the priest know so much about Jesus and how can he be so wise?" I told her that he prays a lot and spends a lot of time with Jesus, getting to know him really well. "Well, we can do that, too, right, Mama?" Ah. Why do I feel like they're always the ones teaching me!?! Absolutely, dear child. Absolutely. Would that I can say I know Him with the faith and innocence that you do, my Precious One.