Last-minute Lent

First thing first: this is a really good recipe for pancakes, even if they do call them “crepes”.

Now, the giving-up business of Lent. It's a good thing that we think about saying “no” to some of the historically-unprecedented abundance that most of us live with daily, but Lent shouldn't be a second chance at your New Year’s Resolutions. Easter is not about self-help.

Nor should it be about you, which is a risk when we experience the attention-grabbing pain of abstinence. Focusing on Jesus is surely the idea: considering His sufferings and what they tell us about Him, and us. If you're going to give something up, fill its absence with Christ so when Good Friday comes you might weep tears of grateful sorrow, and on Easter Sunday sing hymns of everlasting victory.

Or just keep on trying do what He told us to do: love God and all those around us.