Lenten Paradox: What You Gain When You Give Something Up
For Lent this year, I gave up gluttony. Not gluttony in the usual sense, involving the excessive consumption of food. (Though that is by far my absolute most favorite of the 7 Deadly Sins.) No, I decided to extend my definition of gluttony to include excesses of all kinds, from food to anger to fear and doubt and worry to complaining to sloppiness and laziness. I would give up wallowing in all forms. I'm not a religious person; I was raised Catholic but don't practice any organized form of worship. When this idea popped into my head, I had no real vision re what form my Lenten sacrifice would take. I just realized that piles of unfolded clothing were sprouting all over my apartment, that my midsection felt thicker, that I was spending too much time complaining in righteous indignation, that worry was keeping me up at night. I was gorging on dissatisfaction, wallowing in inaction.
Then I realized that I was no longer...