Fasting for 40 Days and the Gift That Came With It

Today, we celebrated the Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  For the next 40 days, Christians are asked to fast, to participate in Almsgiving, and generally use this time to remember the 40 days Jesus was in the desert and tempted by Satan.  What does that mean for us as Christians?

Over the next 40 days, we, as Christians, are asked to sacrifice something that is important to us.  Over the years, I have given up soda, chocolate, coffee, and one year I gave up drinking anything, with the exception of water.  I must say, drinking only water for 40 days was a pretty hard thing to do, but the task was completed.   That Easter, I went to midnight Mass, just so when I left, I could grab a Diet Coke on my way home. 

 

This was the hardest Lent fasting I had ever had.  Every time I drank water, I reveled in the thought of drinking a Diet Coke, an iced tea, a coffee, anything but water.  I planned my route home from church and picked out the corner store that I was going to go to and purchase anything to drink, other than water.  I even thought about packing a cooler, so I could return to my soda drinking ways, but I thought it would look bad to tailgate in the church parking lot, on Easter Sunday. 

Every day, I thought of nothing more than drinking anything but water, and as the days went on, 10, 20, 25, 30, I grew more anxious to drink anything.  To hydrate with a Diet Coke, or a cup of coffee, was almost to the forefront of every waking moment.  The closer it got to Easter, the more excited I got.  It was no different than a child waking up at five in the morning Christmas Day.

So it is Easter Eve… I have waited for this time, what seems like forever, but really was only the 40 days.  I spent all day looking at my watch, over and over, hoping time would go by quicker, so it would be Mass time.  I can assure you that this day was the earliest I had ever been to an Easter service, and not to save a seat, but in hopes that we could get this Mass started and over so I could retrieve what I told myself I could not have.  I have built up 40 days of craving anything other than water, and it is all about to come to an end.  That’s when God took over…

You see, when I left that Easter Mass, I did not tailgate in the parking lot.  I went home a different way, than I had mapped out.  My craving for a flavored drink was gone.  What happened??  Why did this all the sudden stop on Easter Sunday?  I could not believe what was happening to me. 

It was on my drive home that it dawned on me, every time I craved something other than water, I would spend some time talking with God.  Sometimes I would ask Him for help through the craving, sometimes I would shout at Him, in anger, and sometimes I reminded Him that I was doing this for Him, the least He could do is help me out.  Giving up something for God, and not wanting to disappoint Him, was the reason I resisted every temptation.  It was exactly the plan He had in mind for me.  I got closer to Him, through prayer, which at the time, was a weakness in my faith. 

Now when times get tough, I often will drink water, just to remind myself to have that conversation with God.  Sometimes, when I drink water, just because, I thank God for the wonderful gifts he has given me.  Something as simple as a glass of water, is one of the most important parts of my prayer life.  That 40 day fast, five or six years ago, has affected me to this day.  I did not just give something up, as I still drink flavored drinks.  I allowed the fasting to get me closer to God, it changed me.  So as you are fasting this Lent, be open to God and His plans for you.