The Day After

Things are better today. I am tired, but not so hurting. My joints are OK and the headache is almost gone. I take my time about getting up. Sugar is patient with me. I realize that yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and I was about as far from indulgence as it gets.


I did my indulging the night before chemo hit. I decided to have a nice fresh piece of salmon baked with a light maple syrup coating, a steaming hot baked potato with real butter, fresh green beans cooked to a smush (not too many), and a wee bit of heated applesauce, all topped off with a scoop of chocolate marshmellow ice cream for dessert. So I had a fat Monday. Good thing because on Tuesday I could not have managed.


Now its Ash Wednesday, and I will head out to church this evening to begin the Lenten season properly. Grace of God. I have switched my Divine Hours to the Lent and Easter book and added in Luther's Praying the Psalms. I have yet to decide what I will delete for Lent this year. What will I experience going without in order to better appreciate adding it back in? Not food things this year.


In fact, I am thinking along the lines of adding to my prayer time rather than subtracting something. Pastor encouraged us to pray for specific people who don't normally attend church to go on Easter Sunday. That is a place to begin. He suggested praying for ten people. I thought that might take time to think up ten people who don't attend church. But I easily ticked off a dozen without batting an eye. I kept going. My goodness - I know a lot of people - good Christians even - who don't attend church on a regular basis anywhere! I am amazed. This can't be a good thing.


I guess that is a place to begin. I'm just not sure whether to pray for people to connect with a church, or for churches to find better ways to connect with people! I know I was home most of the day, but I didn't see anyone with ashes on their foreheads today except after our service tonight. When I was growing up, all the Catholics had ash crosses and none of the Protestants. Now I don't know what to think. I'm confused. I am beginning to think my chemo fog is invading my brain!