Well, I obviously haven’t been updating this or anything else, except my church’s website, once a week. I greatly fear I am turning into a dabbler. Without the requirements of an outside deadline and an outside topic assignment, I tend to let things slide.
If I am ever to succeed as a freelance writer, I need to train myself to find my own topics of interest and set my own deadlines, then adhere to them.
It is somewhat embarrassing to find out at 67, that I have very little self-discipline. This problem has been an ongoing struggle for sometime now. Every time I think I may have found a solution, I relax and soon find myself drifting back to the never-never-land of no scheduling restrictions and no sense of urgency.
While considering what to do for Lent this year, I was once again reminded of the necessity to make commitments and stick to them. I have promised myself and my God, that I will honor our Savior’s sacrifice by fasting from Thursday night until Sunday morning every weekend until Easter. I chose the time-frame to remind myself of His suffering from the time of his arrest after the Last Supper on Thursday until his resurrection on Sunday morning.
Perhaps I should define the parameters of this; since, when I told my family about it, they didn’t understand. For some reason, they had the idea that a fast meant not eating or drinking anything at all. Further, my original statement was, “From Thursday night until Sunday morning,” and they thought that meant not eating dinner Thursday night either.
The idea is to remind myself of the time frame of the suffering that He mindfully undertook for our sakes. Perhaps we could stand firm to die for others, but to come to it knowing that you must suffer, not just a few minutes but days of deprivation and torture first is an entirely different kind of commitment.
So:
From bedtime Thursday night until I wake up on Sunday morning, I will eat no solid food. This does not mean living on water. I will drink juices, milk, tea, and even Slim-Fast. I will “eat” soups without pieces of meat or vegetables such as tomato soup and meat broths.
I actually did a similar cleansing diet a few years ago that involved drinking a lemonade made with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. This was eventually expanded to include V-8 juice and green tea as well. That lasted for ten days, and I didn’t find it all that difficult. Doing weekends and including milk or Slim-Fast for protein should make this a snap.
The maple syrup gives you important nutrients not available from other sweeteners and the cayenne pepper actually does increase your metabolism besides helping with digestion, reducing cholesterol, and improving the overall health of the cardiovascular system.
Scientific tests have proven the value of green tea, not only as an aid to weight loss, but to help with many health problems such as:
* cancer
* rheumatoid arthritis
* high cholesterol levels
* cardiovascular disease
* infection
* impaired immune function
Therefore, even as I sip at liquids and tell myself it’s only for two days, I can reinforce my determination with the knowledge that I am doing something healthy for my body at the same time.
As I work my way through the next Forty Days, perhaps I can also find a method of prioritizing and dedicating my time toward more writing.
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