Great Lent in the Orthodox Church started on the 15th. I decided to give up meat (everything except fish) for Lent. In the past I've done things like chocolate or sweets and that's not really a stretch. It's supposed to be a sacrifice, right? It's something I'll miss and when I think about it, I'll think of Jesus and the sacrifice He made. I'm sure I'll be thinking of it a lot because I'm finding that I need to be pretty creative when it comes to feeding myself. This morning I made myself a mango, strawberry, raspberry, orange, blueberry and pomegranate smoothie. I had the rest of the smoothie and scrambled eggs with swiss cheese, spinach and tomatoes for lunch (very late lunch) and wasn't even hungry at dinner time. I was still full from the eggs. Tomorrow I'm going to try the Chocolate Mousse that was on Dr. Oz's show.
"I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my strength."
From the Orthodox Church of America website:
"Let us fast with a fast pleasing to the Lord. This is the true fast: the casting off of evil, the bridling of the tongue, the cutting off of anger, the cessation of lusts, evil talking, lies and cursing. The stopping of these is the fast true and acceptable. (Monday Vespers of the First Week)"
So THAT'S what I need to be fasting from. That's a lot harder than just denying yourself food or other stuff. I'm going to have to write that out and put it where I can see it all the time.
