Fat Tuesday and the 40 Days After

ATTN: I have tremendous appreciation for Catholic traditions but I am not myself a Catholic. My Fat Tuesday/Lent observations follow no strict doctrine/rules/laws but since I have seen these specific ideas manifest as beneficial in my life, I usually choose to observe.

St. Louis has the second-largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, beaten only by New Orleans. In STL, this past Saturday was Mardi Gras Day. The neighborhood of Soulard was overtaken by all kinds of hullabaloo, none of which I experienced firsthand since I was hiding in my house in South City, away from the crowds of revelers.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday (and the traditional Mardi Gras day), which I did choose to celebrate with some of the other STL VISTAS. I love to bake although my experience is limited - this was my first foray into using yeast/making dough. I decided to make the King Cake for the party. It took me about five hours on Monday night to complete the monster of a pastry, but in the end it was totally worth it.

Deliciousness ensued.

In my life, Fat Tuesday represents a day of indulgence before lent begins. It also represents a time period of making the decision to do something about things that I know get in the way of my relationship with God.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about "not wanting to miss it." Well, I have not turned off the TV. I know I need to because it's getting in the way of so many other, more important things. So for Lent 2011, I have given up TV reruns. Brand new episodes are still okay (so the Thursday night lineup is protected). Believe me - new episodes take up very little of my average TV watching for one week). I typically watch two hours of Bones a day. That lasts from 6-8pm. And then, since I'm already watching TV, I just sit around and watch whatever jenk is on from 8-9. Then I usually go to bed.

My whole evening? Wasted.

My relationship with God? On the back burner.

I came to St. Louis to give it all to God. I need to start acting more like it and doing more about it. Filling my evenings with so much mindlessness (esp TV shows that cause me to dream about murder) is doing nothing for my spiritual life except making it stagnate like standing water. So bye bye, Booth and Brennan. This is me moving forward towards my goal.