What did you give up? What did you gain?

Today I am grateful for my husband Darcy and his propensity to forgive and forget. I am also grateful for his pride in our home/yard and the work he puts into it.  Growing up, I was grateful for my mom's egg and cheese casserole.

Tomorrow is Easter. Lent is almost over. I grew up Catholic and that means I grew up giving up something for Lent. My memory doesn't serve me well, but I recall giving up things like swearing or fighting with my siblings. I have a feeling if it had been tracked, my success rate would not have been very high. I also remember the no meat on Fridays and that we adhered to that year-round. I especially liked it when mom made her egg and cheese casserole. Simple but tasty.

In recent years, I have gone back to the challenge of Lenten sacrifice. I usually give up chocolate and ice cream and use that as a springboard to better eating as I head into marathon training season. This year, I took a different kind of challenge. Let's just say that there is a certain tone I use with my husband at times (like when he's doing something his way, not the way I would).  I pledged to use that tone less with Darcy. 

My success rate?  Well, if you ask Darcy he would probably tell you I still have some work to do and he's right. If you ask me, I think I did okay though. The nice thing about pushing myself to do this is that I gained more of an awareness of when I tended to use that tone and I gained some techniques to employ.  Believe me, they are simple techniques: 1) Keep my mouth shut! 2) Turn it around to gratitude . . . even if I would have loaded the dishwasher differently, I'm glad he's loading it.

If you took the Lenten challenge, what did you give up and what did you gain?

Today is a day full of riches. And my knee is feeling better.  Have a good day!

Comments