Ash Wednesday

I wrote before about the discipline of fasting bringing a person to a point of recognizing his or her own weakness and thereby knowing more of his or her need for God. Another aspect of fasting is the righting of a person's relationship to material goods. By choosing to fast from certain foods or activities, or from food altogether for a time, two things are accomplished: misplaced worship is abolished and godly appreciation is established. (I am talking, of course, about fasting from things that are not evil in and of themselves-- fasting from sin is actually just called repentance. It's worth your time as well.) When we fast from the God-given things we love and sometimes worship as idols, we return them to their rightful place below God. And, conversely, we also cease to take them for granted. God is Lord of our lives again, and we are duly grateful for His gifts.