Water Fast 36 day count down

I’ll be full blown into the Lenten Fast on Saturday the 11th of March. I’m not sure if my sweetie is going to be full blown into his fast but he’s pretty heavily wrapped up in work. Not working makes it somewhat easier because if you get really tired you can lay down when you want. I’ve decided to make each of those last 36 days till Easter a specific prayer day for something specific. For instance one day I’ll make the theme my sister and all the other soldiers in Iraq. Another day I’ll pray for the homeless etc. I think having a theme each day during the Fast will make it easier to focus for me. The one thing about not eating is food plays so many roles in human beings’ lives.

People eat for so many different reasons:

To combat boredom
To comfort you when you’re lonely
To calm your fears
To satisfy that pernicious emptiness
To stop headaches
To feed a fever and starve a cold or is it feed a cold starve a fever (I can’t ever remember how that works!)
To lose more weight by speeding up your metabolism
To quell those “perceived” hunger pangs
To make yourself feel “in control” when nothing else in your life is

The reasons are beyond me, there’s just too many to mention, but food becomes one formidable temptation. There’s so much at stake when you fast. Your self esteem, your spiritual obedience, your will power, your incredible growth from the whole experience and your health.

So for the next 2 days I’ve got to get most of the perishables taken care of and clean the kitchen spic and span. I actually might enjoy an Easter meal after this fast. We’ll see. After extended fasts it’s hard on your body to just go back to eating like normal right away. I’ll probably have to re feed like they mentioned in Allan Cott’s Fasting book. After longer fasts when I eat fatty things or extra strong Fibrous items too early. It feels like a big box is shoving it’s way through your small tuberous intestines, it’s quite uncomfortable and that’s putting it mildly!

I was thinking about what I could do with my kitchen space to negate it as a place to eat. I know after the last fast I eat more in the kitchen and less in front of the TV or on the couch. I associate my eating with the TV much less than I used to. The food advertisements affect me even less than before the Daniel Fast. It might be a good idea to keep track of those adds when I watch TV just so I can get a more realistic view of the enemy!

For those 36 days I have a few things I wouldn’t mind getting started or done.

1. A Knitting project
2. A rough draft of a screenplay
3. Organize the pantry and kitchen
4. Pack up items not used anymore
5. Shampoo carpet
6. Bathe the dogs
7. Detail the car
8. Clean all the window sills and windows
9. Read a couple books.
It’ll be like a working vacation, but one that strengthens my spirit and resolve! I can’t wait to start. The opportunity will be incredible and for 36 days my prayers will carry so much more power to them!

Posted by ijellorca on March 8, 2006 10:57 PM | DIGG | del.icio.us | furl