First Feast Day

Probably the only reason that this Lenten fast works for me is because of the weekly feast day.  I didn't realize until three years ago that, even though a typical Lent observance is 40 days, the actual time period from Ash Wednesday to Easter is 46 days.  Some Christian traditions use those extra days (typically Sundays) as feast days in the midst of the fast.  That's the beautiful thing of the A Place at the Table fast.  The Sundays are feast days.

It may be because those first four fast days seemed so long, but this first feast day of Lent was glorious. As was my tradition last year, my feast day began with a Reese's product (this time a PB heart) just after midnight.  While this is probably cheating, it has become one of my favorite Lent traditions.  This time, the Reese's product was washed down with a Woodhouse Cider, meaning that I consumed almost as many calories before going to bed as I typically did in an entire fast day.  Then, I woke up to a fresh cup of coffee (with creamer!!) and waited for our community to come over.  The plan was pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fruit for breakfast, and it was fantastic.  All of the four core families are doing some sort of fast this year, so it was a wondrous Sunday morning for us.  The smell of bacon (and the knowledge that I could eat some!) was a sacred thing!  I never even needed a plate.  I picked up a piece of bacon every time I walked past the serving plate, thus allowing me to have no real idea how much bacon I ate.

Breakfast was so good that, despite the fact that feast day only comes once a week, we skipped lunch.  We were still full from bacon!  It didn't help that church went until around 1:30.  We made plans to meet some of our favorite people for dinner, and that turned out to be a great joy.  The Milners are some mentors of ours and we just never seem to have time in our schedules to hang out.  So an evening at 50th Street Caboose was just perfect.  The grilled chicken sandwich (with bacon and cheese) was perfect with sweet potato fries.  The conversation was fantastic, the Milner kids kept T occupied, and it was nice to have some adult time.

As I was finishing up the day with some laundry and cleaning, I reflected on my first feast day.  And it might have been that bacon was what made it such a great day.  Bacon makes most everything better.  But I think it was the people that made Sunday so great.  Singing songs in my living room with kids screaming out that "God's not dead, He's surely alive, and he's living on the inside, roaring like a lion." Standing around the griddle making pancakes and bacon while laughing.  Hanging out after "church" for an hour to just catch up.  Eating a good meal with some of our favorite people.  It was a reminder of what is truly important.  I can live without most of the food pleasures of life.  But I could never survive without community.  Without friends.  Without people.

That's what life is truly about.