Writings
Buried in yesterday’s stack of e-mails was Stew Peck’s story of an 87-year-old woman who gave up beer for Lent, only to lament the fact that the hard liquor she commenced to drink instead made her brain furry and her tongue fuzzy. Or maybe it was the other way around.
Whenever people back me into a corner as regards my understanding of scripture, I am often led to say: “I take all of the Bible seriously. But I do not take every word of the Bible literally.” Which Bryant Oskvig would understand.
Have you ever been watched while you eat? Years ago, my mother told me that people would notice the way I ate and draw conclusions about me….and about the people who raised me. To some extent, she was right.
My stepfather, who is closing hard on his 90th birthday, informed me with great glee that he had been served a jumbo, juicy, jelly donut with his breakfast yesterday morning. I explained that the occasion was sometimes known as Fat Tuesday and went on to connect it with Ash Wednesday, reminding him that people in Europe often used up their cooking fat on the day before Lent, the better to prepare for the culinary leanness of the season. Which explanation he accepted, whereupon he laughed and said: “I think we should have Fat Tuesday every Tuesday.”
