Balance, Wholeness and Fasting....

Something I really didn't like about trying to loose weight is that I had to stop fasting.....

Now that must sound like a strange thing to say, but a few years into my Christian journey I took up fasting as a spiritual practice.

At times I would have a regular fasting routine in order to help my prayers for certain very difficult situations. At other times I would have a fast day to pray for an emergency which came up. Other times I didn't fast at all, but the option was always there....

Until I got serious about loosing weight.... then suddenly it no longer seemed an option....

Because I saw fasting as a purely spiritual practice, it seemed wrong to carry on with it while trying to loose weight....

For years I have been seeking balance in my life as well as growth in holiness.. These are two things I have been praying about a lot recently and suddenly I think I get it.....

I think I lack balance because I don't see myself as a whole person, spirit, soul and body.... But my Father does... and He cares about all of me, not just my spiritual life...

So I am going back to having a regular fasting routine and refusing to feel guilty about any "non-spiritual" benefits...

My plan is to fast about one day a week, I say about because it wont be the same day every week....

I am starting today which is a Thursday, next week it will be Wednesday and the week after that Tuesday and so on. I wont be doing any fasting on Sundays as they are a celebration day...

I don't want to always do it on the same day because I pray for different things on different days of the week... Today I am praying for priests, those discerning the priesthood, including seminarians and vocations to the priesthood.....

I have had to think long and hard about writing about fasting because I don't want it to be a hey... look at me I'm fasting moment... but in the end I decided it was the right thing to do for a few reasons...

1 These days I am more likely to get a negative reaction to fasting for spiritual reasons...
2 The blog world is kind of anonymous...
3 I think more Christians would fast if they heard more about it...
4 Lastly I don't see it as blowing my own trumpet because to be honest I just don't find it that hard