Fat Tuesday

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday and I took advantage of every moment. I had Chickfila for breakfast with my roommate using our calendar coupons, a cherry turnover that the Sweet Creation kids at work made, and an astounding amount of Texas Sheet Cake Melanie and I made just for the occasion.

I have never participated in Fat Tuesday before, but that is probably because I have never participated in Lent before, until this year of course. So, what am I giving up? Well that was a tough question. I would say that the biggest area of my life I lack discipline in is food. I am not a myspacer or that big of a facebooker. I like to eat, but not just anything. I like to eat sweets. There is not a food item outside of sweets that I couldn't live without for 45 days. So this year for Lent, I am giving up baked goods. This is no easy task! I have a bible study on Monday nights that baked goods are a pillar of. At work we have a baking class twice a week, where I am frequently a taste tester. Not to mention the fact that my roommate loves to bake and makes excellent sweets! Lent might be the only way that I could successfully defeat my love of sweets. Other times, in moments of weakness I just have to weigh whether or not the sweet is worth it, and normally I cave. During Lent, however, I have to weigh whether or not the sweet is worth more than Jesus...Now how am I going to cave on that?

On top of the giving up baked goods for 45 days over Lent, I have also signed up for the Biggest Loser Pound for Pound Challenge. For every pound you lose they donate a pound of food to feed the hungry. I think this is a modern day version of God's "The fast I choose" from Isaiah. We give up, not so we can boast, but so that someone else can have. This helps me put my eating into perspective. If I cut back on my excess, someone else will not go hungry.

It is day 1 of 45 and it's going well. I just have to keep reminding myself: "sweets or Jesus" and "feed myself or feed the hungry."