Those post Lenten considerations

It's springtime.  Here in Oregon, we have blooming trees, daffodils coming up in the strangest places, and two straight sunny days with temperatures over 50 degrees.  But spring also hails the end of Lent and the beginning of new life spiritually (in a symbolic sort of way).  We have prayed.  We have abstained (not to be confused with fasting).  Some of us have actually fasted.  And we have all taken a moment to reflect on the magnitude of what the Lord Jesus did for us. 

I had one such moment at the grocery store.  It involved chocolate.

Before you say it, it's not what you think.  I did not give up chocolate for Lent.  My lenten goal was to improve my powers of concentration and meditation.  Ergo, I gave up television and movies in the evening (and the rest of the day too).  Seth is trying to learn physical discipline.  He officially gave up chocolate.  But I unofficially gave up chocolate because keeping chocolate in the house while someone is abstaining from it is like eating chocolate in front of someone who's abstaining from it (or allergic).  It's just mean.

As a reward for completing his goal, I offered to bake Seth a chocolate cake.  I was at the store buying ingredients, and I realized that I could buy chocolate again.  And chocolate was everywhere:  chocolate rabbits, chocolate cookie "bunny houses,"  chocolate in pastel wrappers, chocolate in bulk bins.  It seemed like every aisle  I turned into had something chocolate at the end of it.  And it was all available!  The tempation to run down the aisles like a maniac, grabbing chocolate and throwing it into my cart seized me briefly. 

I resisted it. 

However, this thought seized me as I steered sedately toward the healthy, daily necessity dairy section.  We give up things in Lent to remind us that we can give up things in this life to see rewards in the life to come.  We also do it to remind ourselves that our inner appetites are stronger than we think they are, and we are not as strong as we like to imagine ourselves.  But we also learn that we can master small urges and temptations with diligent application.  The pursuit of righteousness under the administration of God's grace does yield results, and if you resist the devil, he does flee from you.  And someday, thanks to the infusion of Christ's life into us, all of our innocent desires will no longer be tangled up with dangerous conclusions, and everything will occupy it's proper place as we stand and praise our Lord for all the many things He has done for us.

Including making chocolate.