Lent Already

Lent seemed to sneak up on me this year. Somehow I thought it was later, but here it comes this week already.

My lenten sacrifice has been chosen, and it will be extremely difficult. But I won't tell anybody what it is. Those who tell everybody they know what they are "giving up for Lent" are kind of missing the point, I think. If nobody ever knows what my sacrifice is, all the better. Otherwise, the awe, pity, or praise you get from others becomes your reward. Ergo, the point of the whole exercise is missed.

Also, I think that people who participate in some token lenten sacrifice just because they feel obligated or just want something to tell others about might as well not do it at all. Some jokingly talk about giving up something they don't do anyway, but I think there are people whose sacrifices aren't much more difficult. Something I think is very clear about the experience is that it should be a personal expression of prayer, study, and growth. If it's anything less, there's no point.

I worked with a guy who drank so much, I often wondered if he was an alcoholic. He always made a big deal out of giving up drinking for Lent every year. It seems to me that, outside of his drinking buddies, it would have been of more spiritual value if nobody else really knew about his sacrifice. On the other hand, I think we all were sort of his support system, encouraging and praising him for being able to control his addiction, even if it was limited to 40 days. So I suppose it worked for him, in a way.

Something I have recently decided, apart from the Lent thing, is essentially this: I am beginning a journey toward meeting some specific short and long-term goals I have set for myself. Those goals are known by nobody, and I will not share them even here in my little obscure blog.

The point of all this is that the attainment of these goals is for personal reasons only. I'm not doing anything to make anybody else proud or happy. Even my family will probably never really know for sure, A) That I even set goals, and B) Whether or which goals I may have attained. Outside of what may be apparent.

By the way, the To-Do list I posted awhile ago in this blog, while it may offer some hints, it isn't going to tell you what I'm ultimately up to. Those are just things I'd like to do before I die; this is about much more than that. (Did you think I'd be that easy to figure out?).

On to more serious matters.

The Super Bowl starts in a couple of hours. Let's see if I have any football psychic powers. Patriots 31, Eagles 17. T.O. is a non-factor. No lewd Hip-Hop or flashing in the halftime show. At least one very funny commercial. The commentators set a new record for football cliches.

Indiana played Illinois in basketball this afternoon. I don't know the final score, because it was headed for a blowout. Illinois may be the best team in the country this year, but that doesn't excuse Indiana's inability to even stay on the court with them. How sad to see such a great basketball program slide so quickly into mediocrity. If there isn't a coaching change after this season, I suspect the alumni will go ballistic.

I'll check against my predictions tomorrow, and find out if I've got superpowers or am a mere mortal.