Tonight was a delightful night in the Drennan household. Peter and I spent the evening discussing the beauty of lent and sacrifice, and we ended the evening by whipping up some pancakes!!
Peter grew up in a house that celebrated Fat Tuesday, aka Shrove Tuesday, and by celebrating I mean they made pancakes - not from a box, but from scratch. We started this celebration a few years ago, and considering I wrote about it last year, I won't be saying too much about it this year for fear that I will be redundant. But let me just say - I LOVE pancakes and I would eat them every day of the year if I could. I love putting all sorts of things in them and experimenting with my pancakes. My husband, on the other hand, is not a huge pancake fan, and I quite often have to force him to eat the ones that I make.
However, come Shrove Tuesday, he is the one asking for pancakes - and he doesn't want just any pancakes. He has requirements - he wants them plain and simple without anything in them, and he wants them small and thick.
However, come Shrove Tuesday, he is the one asking for pancakes - and he doesn't want just any pancakes. He has requirements - he wants them plain and simple without anything in them, and he wants them small and thick.
Peter so pleased with himself!! Gosh I love this man!
Before I sign off, I wanted to share with you some tidbits from Shane Claiborne's article for the Huffington Post, titled Fat Tuesday and Skinny Wednesday (love the title).
"What's the difference between a flute and a stick in the mud?" our priest asked on Sunday. He then went on, "The stick in the mud is full of itself. The flute has been emptied of itself so it can make music." That's a good image for Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.
The origins of Fat Tuesday have everything to do with what happens on day after, when Christians around the world celebrate "Ash Wednesday," which kicks off the 40 days before Easter (what we call "Lent"). Traditionally, Lent is a season of fasting (giving up food or luxuries or vices) and repentance (which means "to re-think" things), and we put ashes on our heads made from Palm branches from the previous Easter season as a sign of our mortality (i.e. "from dust we came and to dust we shall return"). So before the fasting there was feasting. Ages ago, folks would spend Tuesday eating up all the grub (and drinks) that would go bad during the season of fasting, especially in the days before refrigeration.
But the question surfaces, what relevance does any of that have for us?
Our priest did an incredible job reminding us that in a world where many of us are "full of ourselves" we need to be emptied of ourselves -- so that our lives can make better music.
In a world filled with clutter, noise and hustle, Lent is a good excuse to step back and rethink how we think and live. In a world of instant gratification, it's a chance to practice delayed gratification -- to fast -- so that we can truly appreciate the blessings we have. It's an opportunity to give up something that is sucking the life out of us so that we can be filled with God, with life, with love again."
And in the words of Claiborne...How will you be emptying yourself this Lenten season so that your life will make better music?
xoxo,
Malia
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