This is a good season to spring clean our houses and …. our lives. If I look around my house everything seems fine – there is no need to do any extra cleaning this year! But … if I take time to look closely and empty cupboards I find some dirty corners and items past their sell by date!

I think it is the same with life. I generally feel I’m an OK person – I go to church, help others etc. But … in Lent I ‘take stock’, look in those dark corners and find plenty of things done wrong and things left undone.

Practically, I respond through the discipline of regular worship, private prayer, attending a Bible Study Group and through the Lent Appeal at church.

Each year I feel the journey to the cross is different. As our lives change we gain new insights and along with the discipline and prayerful reflection in Lent, the Easter Message is then all the more glorious!

Julie Bradshaw, retired Educational Psychologist and PCC Secretary at St. Peter’s Church, Salesbury