Pancakes and Lent

Oh can it really be that I have not blogged in one month! Apparently so. I miss these pages so very much. The past month has been all business writing. The month to come will be very much the same. It does not feed my soul the way these clean pages for reflection do. But it is food for the table and I am grateful for the gift of work.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent. I read another blogger today confessing that she can't seem to get through the 40 days of giving up. It makes her want to giving up on Lent altogether. I know that feeling. Denying oneself is a hard thing. Yet a necessary thing for growth and formation in the image of Christ.

So tonight, although our faith tradition does not celebrate Shrove Tuesday or Ash Wednesday or even Lent, we'll eat pancakes. According to Wikipedia, the expression "Shrove Tuesday" (when it is tradition to eat pancakes - what is not to love about that!) comes from the word shrive, meaning "confess."

And after confession come Lent, tomorrow. The giving up not for simply the sake of giving up, but for the joy of formation. The giving up I have chosen (or that has chosen me) feels hard and intimidating. I have no idea if I can go the distance. So thankful that there is no legalism here - I will do my best. Just a desire to embrace a bit of denial. This soul struggle will be full of pruning - hope for new life in me. Time for some diseased branches to be cut off.

But now it's time for pancakes!

Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury UK