Happy Mardi Gras . . .

. . . and Happy Birthday to me. I'm twenty-six tomorrow.

Twenty-five was so mind-blowing in terms of growth and joy both in faith and daily life that I'm a little nervous about the year to come (either not living up to the past year in growth or surpassing it in terms of life upheaval!), but I need to get over it. Superstition is bad!

After my birthday comes Lent. I'm really glad Ash Wednesday is the day afer my birthday because the prospect of not being able to eat my way through an upset tummy in the morning will be a powerful incentive not to overdo it with the celebratory toasting and/or feasting tomorrow night.

I'll be posting my Lenten resolutions tomorrow, and blogging should be a bit more regular after that because I'm going to have plenty of Lenten reading to dissect here. I hope not too many of my blogging buddies will be fasting from the computer, because I will need all the support I can get during this season of self-denial. I'm terrible at self-denial. I could blame eleven years of fundamentalist protestantism and the fact that no one ever mentioned Lent or sacrifice or mortification of the flesh during that time, but I think the blame really rests with my own wretched self. Surely if I had been the scholar of Holy Scripture I believed myself to be, I would have noticed a theme . . . .

Anyway, have a wonderful Mardi Gras and stay safe. Then come back and walk through Lent with me!

Oh, one more thing before bed: Check out Jimmy Akin's Annual Lent Fight. It's like the Ultimate Guide to Lent.

You've got questions ... Jimmy's got answers. (Hat tip: Shellie.)