Next Thing You Know, I'm Going to Stations of the Cross

I've never really seen the point of giving something up just to deprive yourself. I mean, it's pious and all, but it has always made me unnecessarily grouchy. I took a course in college once (Holy Spirit and Christian Spirituality with Bouma-Prediger) that required each student to choose a spiritual discipline, do it, and journal about it for part of the semester. I chose fasting, sort of as a challenge, and it did not go well. So not well, in fact, that I probably won't ever do it again. I do not cope well when hungry.

What I DO see the point of, though, are things that ask me to sacrifice something (time, money, extravagances) for a purpose. I like the concept of almsgiving - finding a way to be charitable. I like giving something up that makes things better for someone else. I like being forced to change my daily routine just enough that I am newly-aware of all the things I take for granted.

And I know that Lent started a week or two ago, but here's the thing I'm doing this year, and it only takes two weeks, so: Plenty of Time Left. It's called the H2O Project, and it asks you to make water your only beverage for two weeks, keep track of what you would have spent on other beverages, and donate that amount to a clean-water charity at the end.

Selfishly, I've timed it to start next Sunday, right after a night out where I KNOW I'll be drinking something other than water. It will be my last hurrah. I am also going to allow myself Gatorade two times for my long (12- and 13-mile, respectively) training runs during those two weeks. Other than that, just water. Someone, please do this with me so I can call you every six minutes and weep about my need for coffee.

I'm inspired by some numbers I've seen recently that left me appalled at the number of children worldwide who die from contaminated water. And I'm motivated by a sense that this, the crappiest economic climate in my lifetime, is a time for those of us with so much to be doing more, not less.

Write me, please, if you'll join me in being coffee/wine/Izze/juice/beer/tea/Coke/Shamrock shake free starting Sunday, March 22. I need some solidarity, please. (And you need something to give up for Lent, right?)