Excuse to Party and to Grow

Tomorrow is the day commonly known as “Fat Tuesday.”  It is a day marked by great excesses as one has one last hurrah before Lent.  One of the biggest and most famous celebrations of Fat Tuesday happens in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.  But throughout the world, it is a day of feasting, partying, and often, all kinds of excess and immortality.  What’s interesting is that, I suspect, most of those who heartily celebrate Fat Tuesday make few, if any, changes to their lives during the season of Lent.  Fat Tuesday has very little to do with Lent.  It’s simply an excuse to party.

It would be easy to look down on those who use this day as an excuse to party but fail to keep Lent.  But I also wonder if we can’t learn something from them.  We can criticize their desire to find an excuse to party.  But perhaps we need to grab this line and find our own set of excuses.  Not to party, but to grow.  What occasion or excuse is there for you to start investing more heavily in your relationship with God or your church family or your community through service?  The season of Lent provides one such “excuse.”  But anything will do.  Choose your birthday month and practice a new spiritual discipline.  Use summer as an excuse to read more Scripture or spend more time in prayer.  I’m always impressed at how easy it is for people to find an excuse to party.  What’s your excuse to grow?