Today is Ash Wednesday. The start of Lent.  The start for many of a season of fasting.

Sometimes the fasts are silly, or may at least appear silly from the outside.  Sometimes they are truly sacrificial fasts that last the full 46 days…fasts that most of us wouldn’t be able to sustain.

What is the point?

I’m fasting from FaceBook. Seems a little, silly I know. And actually, I didn’t think to do it until a good friend posted on her wall she was doing so. And apparently she got it from someone else (at least so Reuben claims 😉  ).  Why, though, would I take a fast from FaceBook and does it actually accomplish anything?

Well, I’ll let you know after Easter if it accomplishes anything.
I’ll tell you what it is not…it is not a desire to impress God. It is not a desire to follow some rule or law or to make myself somehow better.  Those things tend to fail.

It is an attempt to focus.  My days tend to be noisy and sometimes things like FaceBook provide a light-hearted distraction and a good chance to keep up with friends…but they add to the noise.

Easter is an amazing reality. Amazing.  God conquering our barrier of sin, God Incarnate dying. And raising from the dead.

That is astonishing. Reality changing. 

And yet, so often it is just part of the ritual for me.

So, this year I’m going to fast from a little of the trivial in my life. The hope is that in the space that is freed by this there will be time to pray and to think and to be impacted by the reality of what God has done.

I hope to journal a little of that here…not every day, but bits and pieces.  Today’s bit is quick and short….hopefully they will become deeper and richer as the days progress.

To be impacted by the reality of a Holy God who has changed everything.  Want to join me?