I could never give up pancakes.

Meredith has decided that she is interested in the concept of Lent, but is more excited about what you put into it than what you take out of it. For example, she has decided to give up gum for 40 days (which isn’t really a big thing being that I don’t allow her to chew gum more than once or twice each month), and has set the goal of finishing her current book by the time Lent is over. Harper has decided that she wants to give up her excessive use of the word Like during Lent. I’m behind that choice 100%, and will encourage Meredith to join Harper in her efforts. (Am I a bad mom for accusing my kids of using Lazy Language when they, like, say Like, like three times during each sentence? It drives me insane, and I’ve reached the point where *I* loudly say LIKE every time THEY say like, which drives them nuts. It’s all about reciprocity, no?)

As for me, I’m not really a Lent type of person. I was raised to believe that Lent is for Catholics, but I’ve learned since then that what I was raised to believe isn’t necessarily true. Instead of giving up chocolate or Facebook or mustard (or Indian food or cake balls or grilled cheese horseradish sandwiches), I believe I am going to focus more on keeping my mouth closed and my ears open. (Just last night I found myself regretting about fifty things that I had said earlier in the afternoon, so practicing The Fine Art of Reticence with a Bent Ear couldn’t come at a better time.) This evening our church is having a Pancake Dinner to bid a ritual farewell to certain foods for Lent. As many Christians do, I’m picking and choosing which traditions to stand behind. I Will Always Stand Behind a Pancake Dinner.

Are you giving anything up for Lent? Do you, like Meredith, set a goal to put something back into the next 40 days? I’m curious to hear what Fluid Pudding readers out there are doing from now until Easter.
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27 thoughts on “I could never give up pancakes.”

  1. Nothing Lent-related from here, but I did just get through my second-annual “Sugar-Free February” (that’s almost 1/12 of the year without sugar!) <–(I almost said "a whole twelfth of the year", but that would have been almost an oxymoron ((which is a word I love working into my communications whenever possible)) so I refrained therefrom :-)
    anyway…

    Am also seriously considering instituting year round "Sugar-Free Fridays" (thus upping the ante to 1/7th of the year) but Fridays sometimes seem in need of celebration, so maybe "Sugar-Free Tuesday" or something equally less-alliterative, is in the offing instead.

    Bottom line? I try.

  2. I came here to comment just for the title of the post. I will build a monument to pancakes with you.

    In the meantime, I’ve been on a bit of a health kick since the beginning of Feb. I hope to be able to run for 30 minutes straight by the end of Lent (even though I don’t really abide by any Lent practices–the timing happens to coincide). If you knew where I started, you would understand the biblical undertaking this really is.

    PS–WHEN are we going to meet in person? I’m fairly certain we were separated at birth.

  3. I am giving up sugar for Lent. All of it! I used to also create something to give, whether it was time to a charity, increase donations, etc but I’m so freaked out by the prospect of seeing how addicted to sugar I surely am that I wasn’t ever able to be awesome like Meredith in that way this year.

  4. Carroll–def go for Sugar-free Tuesdays (though then Fat Tuesday would be out). Mondays often need the sugar. Wednesday maybe?? Hump Day seems like enough of a celebration without the need for sugar. Friday is most definitely out.

  5. Nutella.

    Which at my age I shouldn’t probably be eating anymore… but I tell you… it’s going to be hard to do.

    (what are cake balls?)

  6. I am not giving up anything for Lent. Instead I try to do something that I seem to have a problem doing throughout the year. I will go to Mass every Sunday through out Lent.

  7. You know that “like” thing that you, like, do to your girls? Well, that, like, is exactly, like , what I, like, do to my three kids, like, whenever, like, they use “like” instead of, like, another, better word. You are not, like, alone.

    And I love the term “lazy language” and will begin using it posthaste.

    As for Lent? Not giving up anything, but we did have pancakes last night.

  8. I’m giving up all unnecessary screaming and yelling for the next 40 days (“unnecessary,” as determined by my husband, the non-screamer). Seriously. I’m giving up screaming in favor of the more socially acceptable loud-talking.

    (I fear this public confession on your blog makes me seem a tiny bit crazy.)

  9. Ah, we’re Anglicans. We are now doing positive things in Lent, like saying nice things about people and giving stuff to charity and ringing friends up.

    Having said that we just went to a very solemn Ash Wednesday service tonight and Eldest and I got Looked At for sniggering everytime they said miserable words. Not a lot of cheeriness about on Ash Weds, it seems.

  10. My husband and I are giving up fast food for Lent (which we shouldn’t be eating anyway, but it calls to us like a sultry siren of saturated fats). And I’m going to try really hard to pray every day; I’ve been a prayer slacker lately. Also, Go Lutherans! :)

  11. I signed up for the Mother’s Day 5K here in KC, and my goal is to be able to run the whole darn thing. I have been running on my lunch hour at work (and looking absolutely dreadful every afternoon).

    Not exactly Lent-related, but it involves a goal!

  12. i’m a cultural Catholic – raised that way, but not so much a church-goer anymore. But, with the aforementioned Catholic upbringing, there’s enough guilt and not-being-good-enough in my life…so my Lenten discipline (wait…if I don’t go to church I don’t really HAVE to observe Lent, right? Wow. That’s an observation that came waaaaaay too late.) is threefold: doing something good for my body, something good for my soul/spirituality, and something good for others. I’m giving up meat for the month, trying to teach myself to get into the daily yoga/meditation thing, and trying to do one stealthy nice deed daily.

    (I have to admit, the Ninja of Nice Deeds has a certain ring to it…I like it.)

  13. Lent isn’t supposed to just be about sacrifice, but also about prayer and almsgiving ( I learned that in church this morning – as a kid the focus was always on sacrifice). So, on the sacrifice front, I’m giving up chocolate. I’m also trying to get to Mass once during the week, and while my alms are spread a little too thin for any more giving right now, I’m going to try to volunteer more.

  14. Well, the firm Secular Humanist in me doesn’t actually do anything for Lent, but I might join in just for fun and give chocolate the big miss for 40 days. You have been warned.

  15. I’m giving up negativity for Lent.

    And to Jenny at comment #11: “Sultry siren of saturated fat” BAHAHAHAHA! I SO understand.

    Wishing good luck to everyone over these next 39 days!

  16. Our family was already 10 days into “March The NoMonth,” meaning no sugar, white carbs, alcohol <–most difficult, and desserts, so giving up food vices was not an option. My son (9) and I decided that we were giving up the no month for lent. It was a nice try, but still the No Month continues.

    Truthfully, I don't really play with Lent either … I think it silly giving up things and whining about it for 40 days. But, I do reflect on attitudes and disciplines within myself, and what they mean in my relationship with Christ. Some of them can go, Im sure.

  17. Lifelong Catholic here, and Lent is always tricky. Some years I get really into all three pillars (prayer, fasting, almsgiving) and walk out of Lent totally refreshed and renewed; sometimes I do all three and walk out of Lent feeling…nothing. But I still try. This year, I am giving up excess for Lent. I know that sounds smarmy, but I’m a person who, when I decide I like something, I like it A LOT. So, for Lent, instead of giving up one thing, I’m just going for definite moderation: check Facebook/read blogs once a day; eat one dessert or sweet snack a week; speed less (why yes, I do drive in excess of the speed limit) and I am hoping that by doing that, I learn to live more humbly. I know that’s a logic leap for some people, but when I combine giving up excess with more time spent talking to my Creator and more time/money helping the rest of God’s creations, it should help make me more ready to accept the joy that is Easter. Right?

  18. No Lent for me, thanks. However, on Good Friday I like to randomly whisper, ‘Thanks, Jesus’, throughout the day, then on Sunday, I throw my arms in the air and yell, ‘Hooray!’, in equally random fashion. That’s pretty much how I roll, Easter style.

  19. My church does not observe Lent, but I love the concept.
    For the last ten or eleven years I have taken the 40 days before Easter to devote 40 minutes a day to prayer, study and meditation. Vocal prayer (saying whatever comes into my heart) for 10 minutes, scripture study for 20, and pondering/meditation/journal writing about my study for the final 10. I’ve found that 40 minutes takes 40 minutes even when I’m in a hurry so this can’t be rushed. It has really helped me feel connected to God.
    This year, I’ve decided to give something up as well. In order to make more room in my life, I’m giving up Facebook. Maybe forever. We’ll see.

  20. My children aren’t native English speakers so their ‘like’ phrase means something approximating ‘sort of’. In my role as ‘annoying mother’ I interrupt their meandering narratives with “Is she sort of your friend or really your friend.” ‘ Did you sort of eat it or actually eat it?” Unfortunately the correcting affect is minimal.

    And I had a Great Aunt who always gave up sweet things at Lent which resulted in her never having a birthday cake.

    Being Jewish I fast at other times of the year but I do love Pancake Day!

  21. Recovering Catholic here….my husband and I have gone Unitarian so I don’t do Lent anymore but I appreciate the point.

  22. I gave up Lent for Lent. It always struck me as odd, even when I was Catholic, that god cared that I deprived myself of something I liked/enjoyed.

    Give up “bad” things whenever you want, but the other seems odd.

    Hey don’t forget to change your clocks forward this weekend.

  23. At age 68, I no longer want to give things up, so I am now beginning to take more. It is hard at first, but I am starting to like, like it. joan

  24. I just had to comment on the pancakes. It is tradition for us to have pancakes on Fat Tuesday. I usually put applesauce in our pancakes. This time we put applesauce and banana and they were really good!

  25. Elevators. I gave up elevators. I work on the fourth floor of a building – I enter through the basement – and park on the fifth floor of a parking garage a couple blocks away. This morning I was really dragging and thought about calling in sick rather than taking all those stairs.

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