It’s been two weeks since the start of Lent and there has been no dessert for my daughter and me. No Girl Scout cookies, even though we’ve been selling them to others. No ice cream. No honey buns.

I haven’t eaten honey buns for many years but my daughter loves the sugary, icing-topped  pastry. She enjoys them as a special treat and I encourage her not to eat them too often. Yesterday,  she had a honey bun attack.

While waiting for the afternoon school bus, my daughter had an urge to eat something sweet so she stopped by a vending machine at her high school, thoughts of tasty honey buns dancing in her head. “I pulled out a dollar and put it in the machine,” she said. “I really wanted a honey bun. Then, I thought about Lent and my promise to make a sacrifice.”  She pressed the change return button.

“Mom,” she said, laughing, “I know people were looking at me. I was holding onto that machine like I was never going to let it go.”  When she finally moved away, a boy in line behind her bought – you guessed it – a honey bun.  ”I followed him,”  she howled,  ”and when he opened up the honey bun I was sniffing the air to smell it.”  She even did a re-enactment.

I’m still chuckling.  I’m so proud of my 15-year-old daughter for understanding her personal commitment to God, and the significance of Lent as a time of self-denial, prayer and charity

Related posts:

1. Enjoying family time