i was thinking today on our balcony (which is surprisingly cool compared to the rest of the apartment) about fasting and why people do it. in the tradition of ramadan, people fast in solidarity with the poor and out of responsibility to God. throughout jordan, and most of the middle east, people are all on a level playing field of food for a month. no one eats, drinks, smokes, or has sex during daylight hours. then, at the iftar (which is a call to prayer at sunset), people gather together to break their fast and read from the qu'ran.
i've noticed already, and we're only 4 days in, that people get very irritable when they aren't eating or drinking or, in our case especially, smoking all day. its understandable. you're denying your body of what it needs (or wants), and this denial distracts the mind. normally people are very polite and easy going, but when this fasting hits, they treat you as if they couldn't care less about you. often times, people are just biding time until the iftar, or worse (in my opinion) sleeping all day and eating all night, thus avoiding the point of fasting altogether. it becomes a religious duty, not a spiritual necessity. this is not the case for all who are fasting. the goal for many is to gain control over the body in order to become a better person.
i can't say i completely understand fasting. for most of my childhood, fasting was either frowned upon or limited to a certain activity that we would be challenged to fast from in order to get closer to God (i.e. television, video games, etc.). this motivation for fasting comes out of guilt that our priorities are out of whack and we need to get them refocused... and in my experience it never worked. in fact, most of the time i would find myself thinking more about watching television while i was fasting from it. it never drove me to get closer to God.
i know very few people who fast anymore. and even fewer who know why they should be fasting. i remember my pastor fasting for a month and only drinking juice, but i don't remember why he was fasting. i think he was fasting for clear direction from God. i hope he got it. i was always told that when a person fasts, he should pray whenever he feels a desire for food. i felt like this was a secret formula for getting rid of cravings, but that also never worked for me whenever i tried fasting from food.
but i can't deny the importance of fasting as a spiritual discipline. from moses to the early church fathers, fasting was an understood part of the spiritual life. i think people do it for many reasons, either for answer to prayer, deliverance from sin/oppression, spiritual weight loss, or closeness to God.
i think of fasting in this way: whenever i deny myself food for a day, my body gets very angry with me. this is because my body is a sucker for food... in fact my body needs food to give me energy and to grow and be healthy (although growing isn't what i want to be doing these days). when i notice my physical need for food, i remember my spiritual need for God. i remember my inability to survive without him, and my priorities get straightened out again... and perhaps i even submit myself more to God each time. but i do know that this weekly reminder that i am nothing if not for God is a healthy thing.
so tonight, after the sun sets, jessey, christina, and i will begin eating a meal together, praying for God's peace and direction... along with millions of others who will be breaking fast at the same time. hopefully our fast is not in vain. i don't think it is.
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