Easter 2018: no discernible improvement

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Lent was tough this year, but even though it was tough, I accepted it with joy because I could recognize God’s finger unmistakably working in my life. This Lent, more than any other, gave me lots of opportunity to practice my patience. I figured once Easter came, I truly would rise again, a renewed person.

But, it’s not over until it’s over. You have to make it until sundown on Holy Saturday.

Well, after trying to have a nice Saturday excursion with my visiting family they ended up melting down on each other and then I melted down on them. I had one last, really good opportunity to practice patience and I blew it right at the finishing line. It’s really depressing.

Easter Sunday has come and gone and I still feel very much like the person I was at the beginning of Lent. I recognize no discernible improvement. I’m still the same.
 
Discouragement is from Satan.

Never give up. Persevere- God is with you.
 
I would be so spiritual if I didn’t have to deal with other people!
Look, your family knows your history and your buttons and stuff happens and things get said.
Can you mend fences now? Like call or text and say “things got overheated and I’m sorry…”
Anyway, I’ll remember you all in my prayers
:pray:t2::pray:t2::pray:t2:
 
I had a rough Lent too, and this is part of what my pastor told me when I spoke with him this past week. I highly encourage the OP to speak with his own pastor, if possible. It was a tremendous help for me.
 
If you were patient all through Lent and then just had one blowup on the last day, you still get credit for the other six weeks. This isn’t a ball game where if you play good all game but drop the ball in the final minutes of play, you lose the whole game.

Also, this is giving you a great chance to practice patience and forgiveness and humility by apologizing and mending fences.

Also, my confessor said that we fall down like this to remind us that we don’t accomplish anything ourselves, we need to rely on God. Maybe you were getting a bit prideful or invested in getting all through Lent perfectly. This kind of perfectionism isn’t good thinking. We will always fail. Maybe God was reminding you of that.
 
Blessings
There is this poster that says,”It’s a good day, Lord. I haven’t complained. I haven’t been unkind to others. Others haven’t irritated me.
But, now I have to get up!!”
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
 
It’s okay; my Lent wasn’t much better.

All Saints have a past, all sinners a future.
 
tad said:
Easter Sunday has come and gone and I still feel very much like the person I was at the beginning of Lent. I recognize no discernible improvement. I’m still the same.
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This is a lifelong battle. Our liturgical year is set up with many mini-Lents, consider Friday fasting for one.
 
The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of the present.
 
Never fear, tomorrow is Divine Mercy Sunday. Show everyone mercy!
 
Thank you.

I’ve had a number of the ‘D’ words coursing through my mind:

D-d-d-despair
D-d-d-desolation
D-d-d-division
D-d-d-devil.

It’s all the same. I’m so mad I let it work.
 
And technically Lent ends at the start of the Triduum 🙂

If one Lent made us perfect, that would be amazing! Thing is, we have a lifetime of Lents, and of other opportunities to grow in Christ.

Do not be discouraged, Christ has overcome the world!
 
Part of my problem is that my jobs are very people intensive. To deal with this I like to go bird watching to get some silence and solitude. I didn’t get out much during Lent because I’m transitioning out of one of my jobs and had to spend what little spare time I had training my replacement. Easter was kind of my due date when all that was supposed to be over. My daily life events coincided with my spiritual life this year.

Everything has been patched up around here. My family has gone back home and now it’s just my wife and I. Tomorrow I’m going to go for a long slow walk by myself and look for some birds. I still have until Pentecost so sort this all out.
 
It’s interesting that a lot of CAF posters seemed to have had a difficult Lent this year, dealing with difficult RL issues.

:pray:t2::pray:t2::pray:t2:
For you all
 
tad said:
This Lent, more than any other, gave me lots of opportunity to practice my patience. I figured once Easter came, I truly would rise again, a renewed person.Easter Sunday has come and gone and I still feel very much like the person I was at the beginning of Lent. I recognize no discernible improvement. I’m still the same.
Click to expand...
I feel exactly the same. This lent I tried to work on my patience and other issues and boom! on Holy Week everything fell apart. On Good Friday I heard Jesus say to me “walk through this season with me.” I’m like Ok, just a few more days and it will be Easter and I can rise again with Jesus. Nope. Didn’t happen. Jesus rose and I’m still walking the Lenten season. Jesus never gave me a timetable of how long I’m going to be walking the Lenten season with him. I have a feeling it will be 30 years or the rest of my life.

Sigh… see I still have problems with patience.
 
When I ask God for patience He always sends me a bajillion chances to work on patience. In fact, I’d say it is a dangerous thing to ask of God 🙂
 
tad said:
Tomorrow I’m going to go for a long slow walk by myself and look for some birds.
Click to expand...
I don’t know where you are in the US, but there’s been lots of robins up here in the Pacific Northwest lately. That has to be a good sign. ❤️
 
Speaking to my pastor has been on mind a lot lately. Back when I had more time we used to get together regularly for a chat. Now that he’s retiring, it would be good to have one last dose of spiritual direction, but he’s really feeble. I’m sure lot’s of people want a little bit of his time.
 
Lent for me has always been a time of failure. I make my plans, fail miserably, and let God take over. Each year, Lent seems to come to me. This year it seemed like God really wanted me to work on my patience.

I also say it isn’t really Lent unless you have an epic failure. I just waited until the end for this one. lol
 
Hello.

tad, I gave up TV for Lent. I started up again as soon as Lent was over. However, I’m seeing that things are not the same. I don’t want to go and sit down in front of the monolith today. It’s lost some of its appeal for me.

As for “melting down on each other,” I can imagine what that is, this is a lifelong thing, especially with family. I can’t even stay in town with my family - I have to go to a hotel - one time I had to refuse to tell them where I was staying and endure the criticism for why I chose to do that. I can’t afford to stay in a hotel, but I get so upset from how my family interacts that I choose to spend money rather than put myself in an occasion where my peace of mind is threatened.

I’ve discussed this with my therapist and this was the option that helped me.

It is a real test to get along with people, especially family. That is why the church has confession. Also, if you’re the only one thinking there is no improvement, perhaps you need another perspective. You took a whole Lent to work on something that continually slips up the best (and the worst) of us. Just keep on working towards it, and in God’s time, not yours, things will happen.
 
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