Yesterday in school I listened to one little girl tell her friends about not eating meat on Fridays because it was lent. I then realized that since I had already decided to give up red meat this year I was already conforming to the Friday meatless days.

This meant that I could not even count that as part of my lenten sacrifice so I had to give up something else. I don’t drink….so that is out. I am not a chocolate-o-holic so I could not even give up eating Hershey’s kisses.

I spoke to a friend who said that instead of trying to look for something to give up maybe I could look for something that I could increase. I thought to myself then that I could count that as giving up the time I would spend doing something else.

I latched on to the idea of praying more because I realize I do not pray as often as I should. I am really trying to pray more and mean it when I say the prayers. That is why I have basically given up the ‘ready made’ prayers and I have decided to use my own ‘straight talk’ prayers to God.

I am giving up thinking negative thoughts about people. I do not use curse words often…I usually turn them into something else but sometimes I do THINK things. My friends say they do not hear me curse and they are correct but the words are still there in my head sometimes. I am working on that because not only is it a good lenten sacrifice but it will also help me to be a better person and feel better about myself.