Last year, after Ramadan, I decided to start consistently doing a voluntary fast of 3 days per month. I think it was because I had such a good experience during last year's month of fasting that I wanted to continue it throughout the year. Thank God, I was able to do it, though I stopped during our summer travels.
Well, this year, after Ramadan, I wondered if I really wanted to continue this. This Ramadan I focused more on inner qualities than outer: instead of aiming to pray the extra tarawih prayers at night, for example, my goal this year was to work on thinking more positively. Is there a point to the monthly voluntary fast, I wondered, or should I focus on something else?
I missed the fast during the month of Shawwal, the Islamic lunar month that comes right after Ramadan, and I continued to wonder whether I should do it this month.
Then I started to feel full. I was overwhelmed, full of things and thoughts, like I was drowning in one of those bins of plastic balls that kids play in. "Think positively!" I shouted to myself, but my thinking muscles weren't enough to pry away the things that encrusted themselves around me like barnacles.
What would make me feel empty? What would de-gunk me and clear me and help me focus again on what was important?
Aha! Fasting.
When I first began fasting a few years ago, it mostly gave me a splitting headache. But as I've gotten used to it, I find that fasting allows me to trust in God more and dedicate myself to Him, focusing not just on what gives my body pleasure but on Who really provides everything.
Today is the second day that I've fasted this month, and I hope to complete three and continue with my voluntary fasts in the coming months, God willing.
Today as I fast, I can feel the plastic balls and the barnacles breaking up and flowing out of me as I breathe out, and a clear stream takes their place, flowing through me and cooling and cleaning me. Maybe I just don't have the energy to hold on to all the things that overwhelm me; maybe I'm losing it from hunger; maybe there is some scientific explanation.
I don't need to know exactly how it works, though it is interesting.
Fasting helps me shed the clutter and fullness and makes me hungry for God. Then, when I do work during the day or when I break my fast at night, I feel like I have been given a precious gift and I appreciate it with fresh eyes and a clean heart.
So, tonight I'm hungry for our leftover Tofurky roast, but I'm also hungry for meaning, and God willing, because I denied myself while fasting and de-cluttered myself a bit, I'll have room for both!
1 comment:
Hmm I know that cluttered feeling! Usually cleaning helps me personally, actually. Throwing stuff out, giving other stuff away, sweeping, doing laundry and dishes, and maybe making some bread at the end gets me feeling nice and organized again. Especially the giving-away is related to your experience maybe; in both instances the peace comes from a spiritual poverty that is made manifest anew in a material self-emptying. So if you ever need that de-cluttering mid month when you aren't due for fasting, or if you become pregnant when you don't want to fast, I suggest cleaning! :)
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