Lent Day Two: Where's the Noise?

So today was a bit different. I came home with the general feeling of...okay what next? I'm not really sure how to begin doing all the things I always wanted to do but never made time for. And, as expected, it is very VERY quiet.

I talked to God some while I ate dinner and then I talked on the phone to about 5 different people for about 2 hours. Not that I was running away from the silence and my own expectations (not completely anyway) but people that I needed to catch up with or check on. It's been good so far. No brilliant epiphanies of greatness but not too awful. And I now have weekend plans so that's a plus.

I think this Lent is definitely going to push me to be more social. I was thinking earlier that this whole thing would be a lot easier if I had roomates. Instead, whereas before I would come home turn on the tv or get on the internet and not feel so lonely whilst being quite alone, I have to realize that I am by myself most of the time and there's nothing to help fill it but God, friends, and my own creative spark. Here sparky sparky!

I did make a list tonight of all the things I wished I did. Here's a small sampling:

have a garden: geraniums, lavender, sage, basil, that hot pink ivy that I don't know the name of

sew my own clothes

learn to Bollywood dance (more posts to come about my obsession with Hindi movies)

learn Spanish

recite poetry: poe, cummings, neruda, seuss

write short stories

follow a daily skin care routine

I'm going to reorganize the list later into categories like Health, Skills, Novelty tricks, etc. I did find something interesting when I was searching the internet earlier for Lent ideas. For anyone who is new to the idea of observing Lent or to read some really cool articles check out

bustedhalo.com

It's a website run by Catholics but it has articles from all sorts of walks, Christian (Catholic and Protestant), Jewish, pagan even. They're pretty good stuff and if you're interested in conversations about faith and not opposed to listening to someone very different from you I highly recommend it. It also (and here is the helpful part for all the Lenten Virgins out there) has a calendar for Lent that includes a daily quote and three things to do to make yourself more aware of God during your day. Todays quote comes from Mother Theresa and the three things include not complaining and instead offering encouragement to others.

If you're open to the conversations I also suggest reading the articles whose titles excite you ... and also the ones that make you squeamish or irk you in some way. Because if the only voices you listen to sound just like your own the song gets pretty boring.

That's why God invented Harmony.

Shalom