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Can I Give Up Numbers for Lent?
Posted by Lynn Wehner in Faith on Monday, March 07, 2011 2:00 PM
I am not a numbers person.
That said, it should then come as no surprise that I am teetering on the brink of insanity after just completing a financial paperwork trifecta: tax returns, financial aid application, and house refinancing. My Lent came early this year.
Actually, it would be great to just give up numbers for Lent. But, alas, for me that would be a treat rather than a sacrifice. Maybe I should instead go in the other direction and require myself to carry a pocket calculator and do math problems daily for 40 days. Or even teach math. Now, THAT would be penitential — for the student I was teaching, anyway.
But, just when my language-arts-centered brain starts waxing poetic on the superior beauty of words over numbers, I pause. I mean, with no numbers, I wouldn’t be able to count the wonderful years my husband and I have been married. I wouldn’t be able to dial up my 19-year-old and Skype about her inspirational pilgrimage through Europe. I wouldn’t be able to listen to my 16-year-old count out beats as he learns a beautiful new piece of music. I wouldn’t be able to keep score at my 13-year-old’s exciting overtime basketball game. I wouldn’t be able to tally the number of times a day my 7-year-old makes me smile.
I’ll always be a word lover, and things numeric will often be a chore. But maybe this Lent I’m supposed to pause — and see that there really is a special place for numbers in our lives. Without them, we couldn’t count our blessings.
Comments
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Posted by Rosie on Tuesday, Mar 8, 2011 1:43 PM (EDT):
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I LOVE numbers! I had a very hard time learning to read as a child (undiagnosed learning disability) but somehow I was always able to “get” math and math lessons gave me such a sense of “peace” at school - it confirmed to me that I wasn’t as stupid as I believed I was. To me, numbers are my friends and I look forward to doing my family’s tax returns, paying bills and balancing my checkbook – it gives me such a sense of satisfaction.
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