Fast Times--Experimental Starvation

Lent must be easier to follow if you live in a place frozen solid during those forty days. I live in thermal winter, temperate at all times holy and un-Godly.

I worked for a guy who told me he hated his job, which he clearly didn't. It was towards the end of Lent, so I brought him a box of chocolates. He ate three of them before he realized they were alcoholic. He had to go to confession over that. He always made such a big deal of not drinking for 90 days. Try nine months I said to him when I was pregnant. I figure he deserved whatever Hail Marys he had to say.

This year I gave up lunch for Lent. I decided I could eat before sunrise and after sunset, like Ramadan, plus help me to understand another culture as well as the general idea of sacrifice. It was really tough the day I slow-cooked a pot roast, but I’d already given up gasoline and disposable income, so one out of three meals was all I had left.

I could definitely go vegetarian; that would be too easy for me. It wouldn’t be giving up much that I can already not afford. But I couldn't go without milk and cheese. I could give up yogurt for Lent, but God would laugh at me. He knows I'm not real keen on yogurt.

How long is Ramadan? When is sunset? Giving up lunch is by far the hardest thing I've ever done for Lent. It is way more than an aggravating inconvenience. I might even learn something.

I need a slow religion, you know, one where you don't go to fast. Do you count sunset earlier with cloud cover? I accidentally ate a strawberry before 6:11, but I was doing it to inspire my son to finish his math homework and have his strawberry treat reward. I don't think that really counts. I was hungry later that afternoon and I thought, well, it's just another hunger pang, and then I realized oh glory it was time to fix dinner!

This really would be a lot less sacrifice if I ate breakfast. Despite my best efforts, whether I eat a lot or nothing at all, I’m always hungry at ten o’clock even with the fasting. Whatever I eat first thing in the morning doesn’t seem to count. Regardless of well-meaning studies, I am not a breakfast person—I’m a brunch person!

It is finished. I didn't make it to the end of Lent. I got sick. My right eye tried to glue itself shut. So I took medicine, and not on an empty stomach. If it were me, in the desert, alone...I wouldn't be taking the medicine. And I also probably couldn't find enough locusts to eat. However, me being sick has a major detrimental effect on my family, so I have quit fasting. I am not going to save the world through my starvation, but I do have a greater appreciation of sacrifice and satisfaction, and greater thankfulness for what I do have. I admire God more. I can’t do all the things God can do, but I can learn how better to rely on Him.