living in ordinary time

Okay, smockmomma has two cents to throw in:

In the words of Frances White (as Julia) in I, CLAVDIVS: "FAT? Well, if I'm fat, I'm fat where a woman ought to be! Not skinny like a boy!"

Sorry. I simply couldn't resist. No offense to our skinny readers. ANYway...

As a society, we are so used to living it up, feasting, if you will. So when Mother Church allows us to Feast --every Sunday is a Feast Day, you knew that, right? -- just eating our normal fare would usually suffice. And, when we are called to Fast we may make all sorts of excuses not to, but by definition we still know what it means. The dilemma comes during the "in-between" -- Ordinary Time. We know how to Feast and we know how to Fast. But, how do we live Ordinary?

I smoked for eighteen years...loved every cotton-pickin minute of it. When I smoked "in Ordinary Time" I had no struggles. The only time I struggled with it -- not for health reasons, or stinky clothes reasons or vanity, or even monetary "HOW MUCH?" reasons -- was when it came to my chitlins or when I saw the smokes as my god. Yup. Sometimes I knew that my fear, anger, angst, frustration (or whatever the problem) would be better off at the foot of the cross, but it was faster and easier to light up rather than kneel down.

So it goes, as I see it, with food...or any other thing we turn to when it's God we should be seeking. Now, boredom seems another matter, but that's where the Ordinary Time should kick in, right?

MamaT and I have discussed this concept before, and I'm trying to convince her to write a book, aptly entitled Living in Ordinary Time. Feel free to help me along in encouraging her.