Year after year, Lent happens the same way: I make some crazy grandiose plans and thoroughly expect them to be carried out to the letter. And it.never.happens! 😦

Not only that, but then I feel upset and frustrated and just want to throw in the towel because I slipped on my commitments. I feel like I have let God down.

But, this year, I have started a new “cleaning” program that encourages you to *not* beat yourself if you miss a task (or a day…), but to just pick yourself up and continue on (NOT attempting to “catch up” — that will just frustrate things). So, I started off making this fantastic, elaborate plan for Lent, scheduling things into my calendar…. And then immediately started “screwing up”. It’s only FRIDAY, for Pete’s sake, and still I haven’t been able to do my daily Lectio Divina or blog posting, or ….

But I’m not going to obsess about that. I’ll just continue with the plan for Friday as if I did everything I planned on doing on Thursday and be content with that. I give my frustration over having my perfect plans messed up to God. My failure becomes part of my penance — I give up the satisfaction of knowing my perfect little list has been perfectly completed.

And what did I do on Wednesday and Thursday that derailed my Lenten penance plans? I helped a priest finalize his STL thesis. So, I gotta get points for that, right? 🙂

God Bless and have a peaceful Lent!