Resolutions

I didn't really notice when it happened.  Sometime in the last couple years my perspective on Lent changed.  Suddenly I wasn't thinking in terms of "What am I going to give up for Lent."  My new mantra was "What am I going to do for Lent."  It's probably because I got tired of nominally giving up pop and then not really having much success with it.

But I think this it also has something to do with growing up.  The thought of giving something up for Lent is just right for children, I think, because it gets the idea across that Lent is a time of self-denial.  I'm not sure the little ones understand that it's also a time of self-revision.

Lent is the perfect time to think about ourselves objectively and work on those imperfections we find.  The older I get the more I think about the Lenten season as a time for self-reflection and revision.  There is the thought of "What do I need to do to become more Christ-like in my life?"

Therefore, my Lenten resolutions this year are:

• work on giving up the casual swearing, which has gotten much worse since I started working as a dispatcher. 
• become less judgmental of people in general
• try to eliminate some of the parts of my sense of humor which are particularly mean
• stop gossiping