Month: February 2013

In the Catholic calendar, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, forty days of penitence and self-sacrifice that come before Easter. The notion of self-punishment is one that many of us don’t relate to, but sacrifice is really a matter of giving up something smaller for the sake of something larger, as when you sacrifice some comfort by turning down your thermostat slightly in the interests of burning less fossil fuel.

What would you consider giving up, if only for 40 days, for the sake of a larger good?

Mardi Gras—Fat Tuesday—is traditionally a time of license and excess before Lent’s season of self-sacrifice. While there is every reason to impose sensible limits on ourselves, and overindulgence has its perils, sometimes, as Mae West put it, “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.”

What will you enjoy to the fullest today?

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

What will you do today to harness the energies of love?

For those who celebrate the Chinese New Year, one of the traditions is to give the house a thorough cleaning, to sweep away any ill-fortune and make room for good luck to seep into all the corners.

What will you do to put your literal or figurative house in order this Chinese New Year?

Dandelions are a noxious weed, quick to spread and difficult to eradicate. Dandelions are also edible and nutritious, flower brightly, and delight children who love to blow on their puffy seed heads.

What do you appreciate that other people find obnoxious?