Our fast serves several purposes: it is like a reset button on our diet, it reduces our total caloric intake, and it gives our insides an opportunity to rest from the onslaught of our modern on-the-go diet. By reducing our food consumption we reduce our impact on the planet. Fasting also reminds us that there are many who regularly go without enough to eat--and not by choice.
Call it what you will, but we find it to be a healthy and meaningful practice.
The thing is, when I don't eat for a whole day, I get really HUNGRY! And sometimes, in that hunger, I gain new insights into other ways that people experience hunger. In fact, for many, it's not about food at all--but about love. It seems to me that our world is simply starving for it.
And what's the cost? When Jesus told his disciples to feed the crowd of people who had come to hear him preach they were understandably hesitant (not to mention a bit stingy...). But love isn't a food that is depleted by sharing it. When we give love we don't have less--we have more. And it is entirely possible that those with whom we "share the love" are starving for it.
I wonder how many gunmen would have set down their weapons had they been adequately fed--were they not starving for love. I wonder how many fits of rage could have been avoided had those who raged only experienced love. An eye for an eye? I wonder...don't you?
It's really not very hard. There is love in a smile, in a polite gesture, in a kind word. There is love in a compliment rather than a complaint, in a simple "thank you" and an understanding glance. There is love in a gentle touch that casts out fear.
And in the end there might just be enough to go around after all.
"We do not live by bread alone..."
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