I'm not a Christian, like the majority of people in the UK I don't have a religion.
However, I grew up in a country where the Head of State is also the head of the Church of England and our society is built around Christianity. It means I end up falling into step on the rota of public holidays, along with the rest of us, marking Christian points on the Calendar, like Christmas and Easter.
I went to Sunday School as a small child, mostly because my 'boyfriend' at the time (I was about 7) would be there and my parents embraced any excuse for me and my brother and sister to get out from under their feet at the weekend. I went to a Christingle service once (I was about 6), because it meant I got to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve and enjoy every single minute of Christmas Day! As a kid, Christmas Day is the best day ever because you get loads of presents and can eat junk all day. As an adult, it's a chore because you have to do 'the family thing' but at least you're allowed to drink alcohol for breakfast.
That's about as far as my engagement with orgainsed religion goes. Although I do know the words to some hymns, having been tortured with them at school, and at various weddings, where people pretend to be Christian for the day so they can get married in a fancy building with pretty windows!
Forgive my facetiousness...
On a more serious note, Lent is an important point on the calendar for Christians of various denominations. It is a solemn religious observance, in commemoration of the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. In the Church of England it is traditionally described as the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter (40 days until the next bank holiday...? Denied!).
The way I was taught about it as a child was; Pancake Day (sorry, Shrove Tuesday) is the last feast where people use up all the fancy ingredients in their pantry like eggs (and Jif Lemon Juice).
I may be making this up in my excessively imaginative writers brain, but I'm sure I have a memory of giving up chocolate for 40 days until Easter. I also remember being impressed by the chef on Blue Peter's ability to flip pancakes - and it still pleases me today when I manage to do it myself!
It's all in the wrist-flick...
It was meeting Angela, from the charity 'Action for Children', who do amazing work with vulnerable children, that started me thinking about the concept of giving something up and being thankful for what we have.
They've started a lovely campaign, reminding us to 'Count Your Blessings' with 40 things to be thankful for and the work the charity does to make those things most of us take for granted accessible to vulnerable children.
You can find it here:
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/media/5417/count-your-blessing-lent-leaflet.pdf
My favourites from the 40 things are:
Number 37; Unplug and play
This reminded me of a TV show I watched as a kid 'Why Don't You'...
The message was:
'Why don't you just switch off you're television set and go out and do something less boring instead'
Somewhat ironic that my brother and sister and I used to religiously tune in and watch it every Saturday afternoon (instead of being outside doing something less boring instead...)
...it's still true today but you could substitute 'Television Set' for 'Smart Phone' or 'iPad' or 'Laptop'...
Be thankful for our awesome connected world that allows us instant access to anything.
But make sure you regularly give up that technology too...
- Put your phone down when you're spending time with friends and be social with the actual humans present (it really annoys me seeing people sat around in a bar together ignoring each other, playing with their phones!).
- Instead of reading mindless nonsense on Social Media, read a book instead (perhaps even an actual paper one)
- Instead of playing computer games, play some sport instead
Number 31; Write a note of warm wishes as a bookmark when you lend out a book
I really like this one. This year, I created a list of 40 things to do before I'm 40 .
On my list, No. 11 is: Leave a note in a library book
This has inspired me to make that note a bookmark with warm wishes written on it.
My No. 14 is: Spend a day in the library reading
I think I'll combine the two...
I'll start with this small token...
Someone else is wishing for what you take for granted
