purifying during lent .

This morning at mass the priest talked a little bit about the upcoming season of Lent... I feel like a bad Catholic because, honest to God, I completely forgot about it... I just hadn't realized that it was coming up so fast already, but I suppose that makes sense since Easter is in April. Boy, how the semester is flying! Anyways, the priest simplified Lent to one simple statement: to purify ourselves.


Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about Lent and how I usually give something up and then once Easter hits, just let myself slide back into it. Now, what's the point of starting something and keeping it up if you're just going to give up on it altogether at the end of the season? Kinda reminds me of all the extra people you get at the gym in January. Yet by now, all the New Year's Resolution people are gone and you're back to the regulars and no one else.

Quick side note on people at the gym -- while it may be not as appealing to the eyes to see overweight people at the gym, I gotta say I give them mad props and never make fun. I am blessed that I am so motivated to work out, and that my body has always had an excellent metabolism and is receptive to most things athletic; thus finding something interesting and exciting to keep me in shape is not hard at all. Some people really struggle with it though, and I always feel good that they are doing something to better themselves physically. Surely every little bit will benefit them in the end.

So yeah, the gym is back to its usual self, and I always wonder, why do those people even bother? They know they're going to just stop going in a month or so. And thus I am forced to reevaluate the status of the things I give up or have given up for Lent. What's the point in me doing them if I don't care enough to keep myself in that bettered state after Lent? So maybe this year I'll attempt to make some permanent life changes. And you know what? Even after Lent what's to say that I don't keep trying if failure is abundant? So, woo for life changes.