We both woke up feeling sluggish and "draggy" this morning. I even felt slightly dizzy. (How come some people say they feel clear, sharp and more focussed when "fasting"?)
Fasting has never been one of my spiritual disciplines! I've occasionally had a mini fast of some kind and once joined in the 40 hour famine but generally speaking it hasn't been a priority - probably because it felt "too hard". However, this experience of Living Below the Line has given me some food for thought (interesting metaphor!) This morning I was thinking of Isaiah 58 which is headed True Fasting. The writer is scathing about those who fast in order to look good but carry on "doing what you please". Hmm... It is easy to feel quite self righteous about doing this 5 day challenge... and through these days I have certainly "done what I pleased" apart from the food bit.
Isaiah goes on to say that the true fast is to:
"loose the chains of injustice,
set the oppressed free
share your food with the hungry
provide the poor wanderer with shelter
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood."
It seems to me that Live Below the Line is the ideal fast. The various agencies involved carry out all of the things mentioned above. Look at the official Live Below the Line NZ website and scroll through the participating charities to see what I mean.
I am on my way to bed - at 8.30pm. I have felt tired all day - but we made it! Only five days of "living below the line" but it felt quite long enough. If I do the challenge again I would make slightly different food choices but overall we chose reasonably well.
Was it worth doing? Yes, absolutely! As my previous Blogs show, I learned an enormous amount about what it is really like for people who genuinely live in poverty here in NZ and in many places around the world. It was worth it for my deepening awareness of my own relationship to food and to going without. It was definitely worth it for the money raised for the various causes each charity supports. As I write the total so far raised by TEAR Fund to rescue girls from sexual slavery is $54,863. I'm sure that will rise considerably as many people (like me) will not have sent their money in yet. Multiply that by the 20 or so agencies raising money for their projects and it becomes apparent that doing something like this makes a significant impact. Never say: "There's nothing I can do."
