Lenten Promises

You may or may not know that I am Catholic. I have mentioned a few times that we will be having a Catholic ceremony since Mr. GrapeJuice and I are both Catholic. Right now in the Catholic world, we are in the Lenten season. Some times people get confused by this so I'd like to explain. {Please, don't take this as preachy or me trying to convert you. I am just sharing information.}

Lent is...
about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. That always involves giving up sin in some form. The goal is not just to abstain from sin for the duration of Lent but to root sin out of our lives forever. Conversion means leaving behind an old way of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Christ.
The three traditional pillars of Lenten observance are prayer, fasting and alms-giving. The key to renewed appropriation of these practices is to see their link to baptismal renewal.
Prayer: More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to the Lord. We might pray especially for the grace to live out our baptismal promises more fully.
Fasting: Fasting is one of the most ancient practices linked to Lent. In fact, the paschal fast predates Lent as we know it. The early Church fasted intensely for two days before the celebration of the Easter Vigil. This fast was later extended and became a 40-day period of fasting leading up to Easter. Fasting is more than a means of developing self-control. It is often an aid to prayer, as the pangs of hunger remind us of our hunger for God.Fasting should be linked to our concern for those who are forced to fast by their poverty, those who suffer from the injustices of our economic and political structures, those who are in need for any reason. Fasting can help us realize the suffering that so many people in our world experience every day, and it should lead us to greater efforts to alleviate that suffering. Abstaining from meat traditionally also linked us to the poor, who could seldom afford meat for their meals.
Alms-giving: It is a sign of our care for those in need and an expression of our gratitude for all that God has given to us. Works of charity and the promotion of justice are integral elements of the Christian way of life we began when we were baptized. [information found at catholic.org]

For this Lenten season, I haven't really decided to "give up" anything but to try and work at some things. I'd like to work on...

1. Not getting angry over little things

2. Not arguing over trivial information and midunderstandings

3. Not yelling/getting upset after my directions are not followed

4. Being more peaceful and understanding towards everything in life

{I'll let you know how it's going at the halfway point and at the end.}