This week I was asked to write an article for the Evangelical Alliance’s Friday Night Theology email.
Here’s a taster of what I came up with…
So, we’re three days in to Lent. How is your fast going?
For many people, Lent is little more than a second chance to crack their New Year’s Resolutions: give up chocolate, stop smoking, or abstain from Facebook.
Some, like Susan Boyle, make the period more meaningful by donating to charity the money or time they would otherwise have spent on their chosen ‘vice’. On Wednesday the singing star launched the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund’s Wee Box, Big Change project, vowing to give up chocolate and donate the money saved to projects working with the poor in developing countries.
Most such attempts, however, like those made in the first weeks of January, are doomed to fail. Abstinence is just too hard. Self-denial is both painful and inconvenient. More importantly, the goal is too intangible to be an effective motivator.
Success demands a different approach.
Who did I look to for a model of success? Why did that person succeed when so many of us fail? Click here to find out.
on Mar 12th at 10:24 pm
Oooo, look at you writing for the EA!
How did you land that gig?
on Mar 13th at 9:57 pm
Thanks! I was well chuffed! Theos writes for them about once a month and this month neither of my colleagues felt like it, so they asked me – yay!