In life, lots of us often take many things for granted. A roof over our head, for example, or food on the table at meal times. It’s easy to forget that our hearts beat and our lungs breathe continually without us having to think about it.
But every moment is a gift.
A friend of mine recently told me that he frequently cries when it rains. A bit odd I thought, but he explained: After being homeless for many years, he was finally given a flat by the council, and when it rained, he remembered the nights he had to sleep outside in such weather, or worse.
He’s been in that flat for years now. Occasionally, in better weather, he will go out into town and spend a night on the streets, to remind himself what it was like. As such, he is still deeply grateful and praises God for blessing him with it all the time. This moved me and gave me pause for thought. When my good wife and I bought our house twenty years ago, we were naturally thankful at the time, but I don’t recall thanking God recently for the roof over my head. Shameful I know.
In modern society, I guess that’s not unusual, and maybe we should take stock more often, of the material things and the opportunities we have been given. In the past, when many people were largely employed in agriculture, we were naturally reminded to be thankful, at least once a year, by the Harvest festival, if not by the weather. Now so many of us work in offices, and pay less mind to the times and seasons. You can buy strawberries at the supermarket all year round. They are also open every day of the week and often till late.
Convenience often makes us forgetful.
I guess this is one of the many reasons, we should fast and why it brings us closer to God. In the spirit of this, I am attempting to put something new in place in my life, by giving something up every Sunday. Sundays are as good a time as any, but waking up anticipating going to church, naturally puts one in the frame of mind of thinking about God and his ways. I hope this attitude will help develop this into a habit that will stick, rather than do it for a few weeks and then forget about it.
You may have noticed at this point, that I haven’t mentioned food, and for good cause. Many people suffer dietary related illness or poor health, and not eating would not be the best practice for them. In my case, a different reason, food is not really a vice(?) of mine. I am quite happy to go most of the day without eating, so denying myself food wouldn’t differentiate my daily routine by much – I still haven’t had any breakfast just yet. Not that I think fasting should necessarily bring suffering, but it should definitely be something that you miss as a reminder to focus yourself on your relationship with God and bring appreciation of what he has given us.
Do you agree with this? Should fasting always be about food, or something bodily? Or is it about denial of self?
What do you think?
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