A few years ago, a friend of mine told me about his own personal tradition of fasting during Lent — the season leading up to the celebration of Easter. He said that the impact the experience had on him the first year he attempted it was powerful. It led him to continue the practice every year since. He didn’t tell me what he meant by “powerful” but he challenged me to give it a try.

Coincidentally, I had been considering doing exactly that, though on a much smaller scale than he suggested. My friend had researched the issue and found that the original practice of the monks who instituted Lenten fasting was to fast every day except Sunday for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday. The monks believed that Sunday, being a day of rest, should also include resting from the practice of fasting. Though he was not in any way Catholic, my friend decided to do the same thing. He suggested that instead of going directly to a full-blown fast, I should ease my way into it by eating only fruits and vegetables for the first week. He told me this on the day before Lent began.

The next morning (after breakfast), I decided that instead of just teaching and talking about the spiritual disciplines, I might actually try putting them into practice. And so, almost on a whim, I vowed to give it a shot. I had no idea what I had signed up for.

The Purpose of the Disciplines

Before I go any further, please understand that I realize the whole subject of the “spiritual disciplines” can be controversial. There are some who attribute these practices to eastern religious influences, to the occult, or to a works-based view of spirituality. These can include unbiblical ideas like “learning to hear God’s voice,” adopting Gnostic concepts, or succumbing to the false notion of Catholic asceticism. I understand and agree with those concerns. I am not addressing those here. My only goal was to use fasting as a tool to recognize my own self-centeredness. To redirect the energy I usually spend thinking about me to instead think about the God who sustains me.

Good Intentions Get Tangible

I took my friend’s advice to institute a purely fruit and vegetable diet. Well, except for the nuts I added to the list because I was a wimp. It was only a matter of hours before the effects were obvious. I had to drag myself kicking and screaming out of the pantry I visit all too often. This was the first lesson I drew from what came to be an eye-opening, 40-day excursion into self-discipline and prayer.

It’s not about what you fast from or how far you go with your commitment. But it is all about making the commitment in the first place. I found that when I put the brakes on my self-indulgent nature and forced myself to focus upward or to say a prayer — no matter how short or un-flowery — my propensity for the former gradually morphed into my practice of the latter. After a couple of weeks, the practice took less and less effort.

Sight Unseen

Fasting is not meant to make us “better” or more “spiritual.” It’s not about fanaticism or performance. And it goes without saying that it should never be used as a self-serving method of impressing other people with the awesomeness of your own humility.

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

~ Matthew 6:16-18)

Anyone who really understands the purpose of fasting also understands that doing it with the right intention means that no one will ever know you are doing it … until you write about it on your blog, of course.

The Power of the Disciplines

I found out what my friend meant when he described his fasting experiences as “powerful.” All the spiritual disciplines are powerful because their goal is the transformation of the soul.

They make us recognize just how much we don’t think about what we should be thinking about. They force us to see that we are powerless in every way that really matters. The power in practicing the spiritual disciplines comes in the tangible realization that the most impactful aspects of this life we are living are the ones that are intangible.

When you recognize the Source of that power and recognize that it does not reside in your own head, you can go revert to your old ways of doing things, but you never go all the way back.

You can’t … and that’s exactly the point.