Bye bye biscuits, cakes and pastries

So Lent is upon us people. You know, the '40-day' fast...that's actually 38, 44 or 46 days depending on whether you count Sundays, end on Maundy Thursday or keep going to Easter Sunday.   I'm not going to skip Sundays and I'm going to wait til Easter Sunday starts so that's 46 days without cakes, biscuits or pastries...

I always used to think that these '40 DAYS' were the 40 days that Jesus endured in the wilderness directly before Palm Sunday, that he travelled straight from the wilderness into Jerusalem but this is incorrect.  The 40 day fast actually commemorates the 40 days Jesus endured in the wilderness after John baptizes him and before his ministry in Galilee: Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13.

I find it curious that all this time I have 'believed' that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days before entering Jerusalem when actually he was ministering in Galilee.  All the time I've literally been sleeping on the "truth" as it's written in 3 of the 4 gospels.  This is where it's clear why man needs a saviour, someone to clean our slate of sins because we can't even translate bible teachings clearly to kids in a Sunday school...let alone deal with birth, death, and everything in between.

All in all, I hold faith as the belief in something that is unseen, something that is 'unbelievable' but persists through prior experiences and present decisions.  I suffer on many occasions from 'doubt' as I mix with 'believers' and 'non-believers' regularly.  But...I keep going, faith is personal.  I try to face the questions and fears I have and search for answers: from the bible, in conversation with others, through websites etc.  However I place an importance in not believing one source.  Everything needs to be cross-referenced and then sealed with my hearts approval.

I have what many would call 'morals', I know I place rules and sometimes unnecessary expectations on my path BUT my life experiences have always ended more positively when I've been more focused on loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind' and loving 'your neighbour as yourself' (Matthew 22:37, 39).  It can be really tough but hey, I don't need biscuits, cake or pastries in the long run...right?!

N.B.: I found out today, that here in Italy, well in Pescara at least, well according to my school cleaner who is my fount of knowledge on all things knowledgable, she's giving up something in May, rather than now...something to do with the Virgin Mary or something...rather than Jesus.  Make of that what you will...