a little over a year ago, i wrote this post about Shrove Tuesday, or the Beginning Of Lent. It was written on February 8th - almost three weeks earlier than this year. today is Shrove Tuesday and we decided to join the masses in the parish hall to eat pancakes and sausage.

and so here we are in Lent again. i recently read this description of Lent, which i like:

"Lent is a time of discipline and preparation. Lenten disciplines are those which we undertake for a journey. Lent has been likened to a journey, with our ears attuned and our bodies leaning toward the wonder of the Easter announcement: Christ is risen!"

the housegroup that kenny and i belong to (which rocks, by the way) has taken a break from regularly scheduled programming to discuss the desires that the majority of us have in keeping a Lenten discipline (and holding to it even after Lent, and throughout the year). some of us are gathering for an early morning read-through of morning prayer. some are meeting on fridays for a time of more Book of Common Prayer reading. some are meeting for dinner to discuss how the week of disciplining is going (getting up extra early when it's cold outside, and fasting through lunch once a week is not easy).

i decided last week to do something a little different this year. i'm baking bread as a Lenten discipline (this is news to kenny and I'm sure he's not upset about this decision). i know it sounds silly that someone who enjoys making bread - the mixing and (especially) the kneading and the rising and the baking of it all - has chosen it for a Lenten discipline. i may like it, but it's hard to do it on a regular, weekly, basis for me. i'm not too spry on my toes anymore (thanks to the in-utero son), and i prefer sleep over baking these days. and my ex-utero sons take up the remainder of my spare time. but while i was kneading a recipe for 4 loaves of white bread last weekend (which didn't turn out so well), i realized that there is something to this "art of bread-baking" that can put you into a meditative state. my mind was working a hundred miles an hour while i kneaded (and kneaded and kneaded) this large amount of dough, and i realized that i could use this time for prayer and meditation. two things which are sadly missing from my day-to-day life. if i commit to make bread even two times a week, that's two times (more than usual) during the week that i can't do anything else but knead/think/pray.

i plan to give most of the bread away. that adds to the discipline part. however, i think that giving it away can include giving it to husband and children and not eating it myself.