Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday

Is it bad that I associate Fat Tuesday with eating everything under the sun in preparation for eliminating all the bad stuff on Ash Wednesday?
I think not, OK so maybe it's a bit bad. =)

For all you Catholics out there, tomorrow is the start of lent.
In a quick definition look up of Lent I turn to Wikipedia.org

"Lent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan."

Ah temptations temptations. They usually come in the form of food for me. Typically each lent I give up the junk food. It's the one thing that I find hard to stray away from and am always tempted to eat. So this year is no different.

However, I also see Lent as a way to improve ourselves in the eyes of Jesus and to strive in different ways to be more like him. To me its almost like a New Year's Resolution, but this time its for Jesus.

For Lent, I promise to
1. Lay off the chips
2. Sacrifice my needs and wants for the ones I love.
3. Become a better Mom and find new ways to teach my little man, especially about the Bible.
4. Permanently stop making excuses for not achieving the goals I want to achieve and
doing the projects I want to do.
5. Prove to myself that I can be a "Mom of the Year," in my own eyes, at least.

These goals mean a lot to me because I always find myself being tempted and lured not do the things I know are important. I can ask for forgiveness of my sins and let me tell you, Jesus does forgive, but it doesn't mean anything to ask for forgiveness if we aren't willing to make the necessary changes in ourselves to be resolved of our past mistakes. The 5 goals listed above should be something I strive for at all times in my life, not just during Lent. But the promise of Lent and the Love of Christ allows me to find new beginnings and hope to achieve the much needed changes in my life. The end of Lent and the Resurrection means a renewal in Faith and the rebirth into eternal life; and the most wonderful thing about Christ is that he is always there, open arms and all.

So I ask you, even if your faith does not practice Lent, what would you do to renew faith and resist temptation?