You know, I really should go back and read what I have written from Lents past before I dive into a new season, because it is always the same...



I don't get Lent.

I am giving up coffee!



I didn't discover that until AFTER I had written what follows!


But, yes, it is Lent again. And, yes, this year I am going to "give up" coffee once again. I put "give up" in quotes because just now it is striking me as kind of... odd. Why am I "giving up" anything???

Because I grew up Catholic. And that is just what you did during Lent. I always wanted to "give up" stuff like homework. Or broccoli. I guess that wasn't the idea!

But then, I am not sure if I ever knew just what the idea was.

I guess it is just what you do for Lent, like putting up Christmas lights for Christmas. It marks the season, if nothing else.

But more of that later.

And I should say we are giving up coffee. Dani is joining me again. This is going to be tough for us, because sharing in a cup of good, fresh-brewed coffee each morning has become a big part of our life.

It used to be we would have coffee at 2:00 in the morning each morning. That was when Dani was working in radio, and had to be in early. Very early.

It was actually kind of nice. I would brew up a pot of "home blend" coffee - mixing two or three different brands of dark roast coffee; maybe some Starbucks, maybe some Caribou, maybe some Gavalia, or even store-brand "black" coffee (I think it was Louie Anderson who told the story of asking his mom to get some Oreo cookies when she went to the store and she came home with a bag of "store-brand black cookies." Not Oreo's. Not even Hydrox (remember those? Do they still make them?), but just some cheap store-brand black cookies! So we always call any off-brand stuff we buy "store-brand black..." Which, I have to say, is usually pretty good! Okay, back to the main topic, in progress...).

I mix a little of this, a little of that, and it makes the best coffee ever. Really! You should come over some time and have some!

We would share a cup of delicious coffee with just the right "foil" (a good compliment to the coffee). For me, that is most often a blueberry Poptart.

Then she would head off to work around 3:00, and I would go back to bed for a couple more hours.

And then one day, totally out of the blue, Dani quit the radio business after almost 40 years and took a regular 8:30-4:30 job.

Totally messed up my sleep schedule!

Now each morning we share our delicious coffee at 6:00, pop in a Poptart or two, and play a few rounds of Ruzzle (an addictive phone/tablet game).


But not for the next 40 days!


Now it is Earl Grey tea.

Totally not the same!!!!



But why????

What is it we are trying to accomplish?

At first I have to admit I was looking for some sort of deep, spiritual experience. Even though I am not sure what that would be exactly...


And then...

...imagine if one morning there was Jesus, sitting at our kitchen table, waiting for his cup of coffee. "Here, try this," he says as he pulls out a bag of whole bean coffee from his robe (it has the best package design I have ever seen! You can almost taste the coffee just looking at, and it gives you the feeling of being wrapped in a warm, plush blanket... and that's just the label!).

Of course, it is the best cup of coffee there could ever be!

But then... what would he say?

"So, what are you guys up to?" (would Jesus say "you guys"???).

"We are giving up coffee for Lent," I say.

"That's quite a sacrifice!" Jesus says.

And all of a sudden I want to sort of slither under the table. But then he gives me a smile and a wink and I know everything is okay.

"No, seriously," he says, "What do you hope to get out of this Lenten experience of yours?" he asks.

"Well... you know, I hope to have some sort of deep, spiritual experience..."

"So it's all about you then?"

"Um..."

"How about this," Jesus says, "How about we just get to know each other better. Well, I mean, I already know you better than you know yourself! How about you get to know me better, and maybe in the process we become closer friends? That would be good for you - and good for me. I would really like that!"

"That sounds good!"