Becoming Grateful Day 21: Fasting

FASTING FOR GRATITUDE

This post is by both of us:  Fasting to be grateful.  I've actually pondered this one off and on all month.  What is fasting?  One definition (from Google) is:

Another definition, from True to the Faith (an LDS Gospel Reference) says:

I like both of these definitions. We'll be talking about gratitude and prayer on another day, but prayer and fasting go hand in hand (otherwise it's easy to turn fasting into starvation).  Ever heard "fast with a purpose"?
When we fast and pray, we invoke God's help.  We also show we can give up something for something better.

In the Book of Mormon, Alma 45:1 Describes the Nephite people and how fasting affected their lives, particularly after the hardship of war.

"Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy."

They wanted to show they were grateful so they fasted.  Fasting doesn't have to be so you can have gratitude, but it's also so you can show gratitude.

You might be wondering why we didn't choose to do this on the first Sunday of the month (typical fasting day for Mormons).  Here's why:  Sometimes we need to show increased faith by fasting at times that aren't the 'expected' times.  I think additional fasting in a given month shows we have a sure desire to learn and do what we need to fulfill our desires.  In this case, we desire to be more grateful.

A big part of our whole Becoming Grateful series has been to focus on the many wonderful things we have in our lives to be thankful for. By fasting we can focus on these blessings and as Sarah said, show our gratitude for them. When you take time to fast, just for a day or a couple of meals, you are no longer focusing on your immediate need to eat. We set that aside and allow ourselves to focus on something else. If you believe the body is made up of a physical and spiritual side, fasting can be thought of as helping the spiritual side become stronger than the physical side. It can allow us to set aside material things and instead think about the more important things in life. We can then become more grateful for these things. 

 If you've never been part of an organized fast for a religious group or had to have surgery, you may not have much experience with fasting. Many groups and religions practice fasting, like celebrating Ramadan in the Muslim culture. They fast from many things for a whole month during the day. If you want to read more about the spiritual and physical benefits from fasting, here's a great article in the Deseret News. 

So if you haven't ever fasted, why would you just skip a few meals? Now we're not talking about fasting in the way of the new trending mini-fast diet. And it doesn't mean when you have a busy day and realize you haven't had breakfast or lunch yet that you can count that as your fast. 

Fasting doesn't always need to be about skipping food. Maybe you're in a situation where your health doesn't permit you to fast, or you're nursing a baby like we both are. In these cases, you can fast from something else, like from sweets or junk foods. Pick something that will work with your health situation. 

The best way to make your Gratitude Fast successful is to prepare for it. Pick a day and set time aside. Don't bake cookies the night before so they are staring you in the face all day while you're trying to fast and focus on gratitude. And maybe don't choose a day like you're birthday or anniversary when you'll be going out for a nice dinner or will be wanting cake. 

The point is to focus your mind on increasing gratitude, and the truth is that fasting will create the conditions where you can do this. You can show your gratitude to God for your blessings and be prepared to receive more.