Don't Let the Word "Fast" Scare You

So, the Lenten Season is upon us.  This Wednesday, we celebrate Ash Wednesday and for the next few weeks, we are asked to fast (no meat on Ash Wednesday or Fridays), and put aside a full meal.  We are asked to repent (attend a Reconciliation Service).  And finally, we are asked to spend more time with the Lord in prayer.  Then there is the ever hanging idea of giving up something for Lent. 

 

I am not much of a New Year’s Resolution person, not because I cannot do it, but it just seems to me to be a worn out kind of idea.  I used to make a “resolution” for Lent, like giving up Diet Sodas, one year I drank nothing but water from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, and donated my soda money to help build water wells in a third world country.  I gave up stuff because it was what I was supposed to do.  But, much like my New Year’s Resolution, giving up something for Lent was becoming a worn out idea. 

 

About 10 years ago, I decided to change my perception of “giving up” things for Lent and decided to try and do things to make be a better Christian.  I would try to do something that would increase my prayer life, or increase my relationship with God.  That year, I fasted for one meal, each day, not just Fridays, and when my stomach would start to rumble, I would remind myself that I am doing this for God.  While I was still giving up something, taking the time to remember Him whenever I would feel hungry, reminded that there are others that have hunger pains, but they do not have a choice.  It increased my relationship with God, and made me appreciate the things I have even more.

As time has gone on, I am finding it more and more a struggle to find ways to increase my faith life.  Not that I have the perfect faith life, please do not read it that way, but finding things that I can do that fit into my schedule of work and shuffling my children from place to place.  Last week, a parent shared with me a list of simple things to put on the bathroom mirror or the screen saver on my devices that will act as a simple reminder of the things that we can do to help us grow in our relationships with God.  Looking at the title, please do NOT let the word “FAST” scare you or discourage you.  Fasting involves changing, and here are a few ideas of things that you can do to change your relationship with others and with God.