Forgiveness Sunday and the Beginning of Lent

I missed Church yesterday. Both the Divine Liturgy and the Forgiveness Vespers service. I was sick in bed, alternating falling asleep with having chills and being achy and very very hungry all at the same time.

Mono rears it's ugly everlasting head.

So, dear blog readers, I put this out there in the spirit of Forgiveness Sunday, even though it is Clean Monday today, the first day of Lent for Orthodox Christians:

Forgive me, my sisters and my brothers, for any sins I have committed against you in what I have written here, and in what I have not written. And for those of you precious ones whom I know in real life, forgive me for my words and my deeds, and for my lack of words and lack of deeds. Forgive me, my brother and my sisters, for I have sinned.


And now we begin our lenten journey. I feel like it's been lent for all of 2011 as I've been dealing with the slowness and the quietness of illness and exhaustion beyond what I'm used to deal with with Fibromyalgia.

There are nights when I lie in bed, not yet having fallen asleep, and I think desperately off all that I have to accomplish. And believe you me, I AM delegating everything I can to my kids. My teenaged daughters, especially, have been an invaluable help to me. Everyone in my family has made so many sacrifices. We've simply NOT gone and done as many cool things as we might otherwise have done if I were well. People have been patient.

And this week, is THE WEEK, for getting wedding dress number two done. Well, maybe not "done, done" but this afternoon is the first fitting, and the bride is in town from out of town all this week, so our goal is to get things to the point where I can finish the dress with no more fittings, on my own.

God have mercy, it's gonna be a doozy! I keep obsessing about how to put things together, and after today I'll have a much better idea of how precisely to proceed, as my ideas and the bride's ideas will mesh together to come up with a plan. There are various options that must be discussed and decided upon. The implementing of them will be a relief.

So, dear friends, I covet your prayers as usual. It's going to be a busy week. I hope God grants me enough strength to do this work AND make it to some of the Church services.

Comments

elizabeth said…
God forgives! Forgive me a sinner.

Prayers.
Mimi said…
God forgives! Forgive me, my sister.

Hope you are feeling better. much love.
Matushka Anna said…
God forgives.

Fogive me a sinner.