As Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent we took the time to reflect on what it means for us today by cooking pancakes and considering why palm crosses were traditionally burnt and the ash used to mark a cross on people's foreheads. 
Pancakes are clearly not part of any traditional Ash Wednesday service, but the fact that the first batch was made without any recipe or instructions and the second by following the recipe to the letter, focused our minds on the choice that we all have to make.
The first set of pancakes were very interesting and maybe not what you would want to eat. The second were definitely edible and both were cooked up by our Master Chef.
The point of all this being?
2 John 1:6
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love
Ash Wednesday reminds us that everyday we make the choice to follow the life that God has called us to. When we choose not to it has consequences, we make up our own recipe and the finished product is not what was intended.
And yet God is one who 'keep no record of wrongs' and Ash Wednesday is a vivid reminder of the lengths that he was prepared to go to in order that we have a second chance to follow the recipe and to know what it truly is to live as a child of God.
