First Sunday of Lent: CatholicFAIL

So I'm a little bit behind… but not too far only a day! Who'd a thunk that this would be so damn difficult. Aside from needing to go to bed earlier, I am really struggling to be attentive to things that I can be grateful for.

So often I'm finding myself struggling tiredly at the end of the day to record something that I am grateful for. It's more than just acknowledging it. It should be an offering of prayer to the one who gave it to me. 

So there you have it. First Sunday of Lent is a tale of Kiara and her fairly epic Catholic FAIL. Seriously. The only thing that is more difficult is giving up chocolate. Having said that, it's okay to fail. It's okay to stuff it, to do it imperfectly. If it is one thing that I learned during my discernment, it is that when you start feeling like crap and it's not working and you're about to throw in the towel, that is precisely the time when you are growing the most. Paradoxically, the times when we feel like God has abandoned us, are the times when he is closest to us.

So I persevere and I make my struggles an offering to him. I name the graces I need: attentiveness and fortitude. I open my heart to the Spirit to fill me with wonder and awe to find him.

So this Sunday, I am grateful for all my failings. I am also grateful for my mother who set the tone for Lent with an epic Catholic FAIL on Ash Wednesday.

Me: "Is that [shredded pork shoulder] for dinner?"

Mum: "Yep."

Me: "It's Ash Wednesday."

Mum: "Oh, S***! And I sent the kids to school with ham sandwiches!"

Yep, should have ashed our selves with FAIL in reparation for that dozy. I also managed to serve myself leftover lamb in an omelette on friday… oops!

1st Sunday...