The Wheatland Mission

So, How is your fast?

This is a great Lenten day. As we have talked about before, Lent is meant to be a time of reflection, repentance and sorrow for our sins. Days like today naturally make us a bit more reflective. The rain restricts us. It keeps us inside and when we do go out we have to dash to our cars and dash back indoors. It keeps us from being our causal, relaxed selves. A day of reflection is a good practice for Lent because it gets us our of our comfort zones and into a place where we think more about the meaning of this season.

Fasting is another important practice. Depriving ourselves of something that is a normal and positive part of our lives is not a means of self-punishment but a time for focusing our attention upon God's great sacrifice by being reminded of our own small one.

Fasting together, as a community, is also valuable. Jesus encouraged his followers not to talk a lot about their fasting because of the temptation to use it as a means of boosting their own egos. However, since we are going through this journey together it is good for us to encourage one another on and actually learn from one another how we are growing through our fasting experience.

So, if you have a trusted friend, whom you know to be fasting, ask them about their fast. Do not focus on what they are fasting from, the weight they may have lost, nor the difficulty that it creates for you. Focus instead upon what you are learning about yourself and about God during this time. The goal of the fast is not to become good at fasting. The goal is to experience God.

posted by The Wheatland Mission @ 10:18 AM