Lent

I don’t usually give things up for lent but was encouraged this year to think about doing so as a bunch of friends are fasting, and so together we could cheer each other on. I know my body won’t manage a fast so I offered to only drink water for all my drinks, so no tea, or fruit juice or alcohol or anything for the whole of Lent. I was interested to then note my panic. I’m mainly a woman of simple pleasures and am aware of some of the “comfort blankets” I make use of when I’m feeling low. I recently seem to have lost several of these and am concerned that if I can’t make myself a calming brew then is it actually a strategy lost that has been helping me cope when things are otherwise overwhelming?

I understand that it would be useful to lean only on God and not have these crutches of a good novel, a friend’s ear, or an Earl Grey. But actually, to do away with all that I lean on is maybe to chuck out the baby with the bathwater. For me right now as I’m struggling with some hard stuff, being gentle on myself is maybe more of an appropriate challenge than proving I can deny myself. I think God is in the tea, in the friend, in the novel. Maybe next year I’ll be in a better place – I love Peter Singer’s challenge that we do have money to spare if we ever drink anything other than tap water.

As the wise instigator of the fast said, it’s about grace, not guilt, and so with God’s grace, I shall continue to lean on God, through the teabags…