The Plumbline

My frequent and ongoing struggle to keep weight off my body has me investigating how to keep my metabolism moving right along so I can burn the calories I put in. I have discovered fasting from a meal or two a day on occasion actually helps me to keep weight off. It isn't that I am starving myself, as I have reserves! I am just asking my body to use what it already has and not to demand what it doesn't actually need! The term "fast" has a couple of meanings, but when we use it to describe a condition of heart, mind, and soul which abstains from something in order to focus on another, we call it "fasting". There are all kinds of fasts - some from food, others from input of various forms of media, or perhaps from a special treat we enjoy. The season just before Easter is called Lent and is considered by some churches to be a season of temporary "fasting" - giving up something in order to get a little closer to God during that season. I wonder if w...

The term "fast" has a couple of meanings, but when we use it to describe a condition of heart, mind, and soul which abstains from something in order to focus on another, we call it "fasting".  There are all kinds of fasts - some from food, others from input of various forms of media, or perhaps from a special treat we enjoy.  The season just before Easter is considered by some churches to be a season of "fasting" - giving up something in order to get a little closer to God.  I wonder if we really have considered the kind of "fast" God is really after? 6-9 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after:  to break the chains of injustice,  get rid of exploitation in the workplace,  free the oppressed,  cancel debts.   What I'm interested in seeing you do is:   sharing your food with the hungry,  inviting the homeless poor into your homes,  putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,  being available to your own families.   Do this...