Giving Up

Two Sundays ago my car was covered in ice, and the doors were frozen shut. We had just had a discussion about my tendency to ask himself to do things for me that I could do myself. So instead of asking him to solve the problem, I got the brilliant idea of getting a pitcher of hot water and pouring it over the door handle and around the rim.

It worked and I was able to open both doors. Yay! I went back in the house very proud of myself and told himself, and he laughed and said “Well, they will just freeze up again…” So I went racing out there, and the passenger door opened (barely) and I was able to get my driver’s license out of the glove box (it locks), which is where I keep because I do not normally carry a purse. The driver’s side had indeed already froze shut again. I drove one of the cars that lives in the garage to church.
 

More weather came, and the car hasn’t moved since. I haven’t left the house except to feed the birds since last Sunday (church was cancelled). Richard has managed to get out to the highway and go to town, and we will leave a little later to get the second COVID shot and make a pass at the library to return books, which would have been overdue yesterday except she renewed them for me over the phone.
 

I have had no exercise at all since last Friday. I have not been to the aerobics class (although I do plan to go back Monday), I  have not  taken a walk (when we had the dog, I would bundle up and take her for a walk when it was single digits, but not now), and I have not gotten on the recumbent cycling machine. I feel like a blob.
 

The church I grew up in did not “do Lent” and I don’t recall any of the Baptist churches we attended mentioning Lent either. However, the Presbyterians do “do Lent” and so this has been a new experience for me. Lent is a time for personal reflection that prepares people's hearts and minds for Good Friday and Easter and often involves “giving up” something to help remind folks to focus on their relationship with God. However, in past seasons of Lent I have not given up anything with that purpose in mind.
 

This year is different though. I can see that I do need to deepen my relationship with God, and I have figured out what I am giving up to help me do that. Or at least will try to do. And that is uncontrollable snacking after dinner. About 2.5 hours after dinner (we eat very early), we usually have a salad, which is mainly vegetables and usually no lettuce (not at $1.99 a head). And we eat that while we watch television. Then I sit in my recliner and read for another hour or so. But I don’t just read. I graze – peanuts…crackers and cheese… and then yogurt with fruit.

I have decided to stick with the salad and yogurt and give up the “grazing.” Perhaps I can lose a little of the weight I have put on by exercising my elbow.