fasting

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Discipline Can Be Very Elusive At Times

 

There are certain situations or places that trigger a lapse in discipline … and I’m in one of those places right now.

discipline can be very elusive at times

Creating a habit or trying to form a pattern in life takes discipline – lots of it, in many cases.

For instance, if you are trying to get fit or lose weight or just eat healthier, you have to work at it. No one drops 20 pounds by not making some sacrifices. No one gives up pizza twice a week or pop every day of the week without some effort.

Well, for the past 6 or 7 months I’ve been making a real effort to stay fit.

Now that I’m retired I’ve let my work go, but I don’t want to let my body go as well. I’ve needed to be disciplined at exercising every day and eating at the right times.

Through the winter, exercising came easily. I played hockey 4 or 5 times a week and on the off days worked out in my home gym.

Eating was not as easy, but I decided to keep my food intake to between 9 am and 6 pm (which I didn’t realize at the time was a form of intermittent fasting). 

I haven’t followed any meal plan or diet of any kind. I only eat food in that window, don’t eat junk food at night and keep snacks down to a very small amount. 

Things were going well – I mean, pretty well. The biggest hurdle was finishing dinner by 6 pm. … It should have been easy but I haven’t been able to convince Lily that we need to be done dinner by 6 pm. 

She controls my evening meal because, though I’m an excellent breakfast maker and micro waver, I’m not much of a cook. To be honest I’m not a cook. I can make a grill cheese sandwich and soup but that’s a lunch meal. I can also make spaghetti, but I can’t eat that every night. 

Let’s just say, for the most part, I have been disciplined and things were going really well.

Then summer happened. I spent more time at the cottage. And along with the change in environment came a dip in my discipline. 

For some strange reason being at the cottage means snacking at night, eating out more often, extending my meal window by sometimes a few hours and not exercising every day.

I was having no problem at home, but that same discipline I had a home didn’t get packed in the trunk to take to the cottage.

Oh, and it doesn’t help that there is a candy store and three ice cream shops in town. With only having my bike for exercise up there, I don’t have a means to exercise on rainy days.

I know when I’m home I will have my discipline back, but right now my discipline is lapsing. 

Here’s the thing: Discipline can also be an issue for spending time with God. You may have a well-disciplined time with God at home, but when you are on the road that can all change. Your schedule is different and you don’t have the same set up or place to meet with Him. One thing I do is always make my time with God the first thing I do in the day. Then the rest of my day gets adjusted from that.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to get back to being disciplined about? Leave your comments or questions below.

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Fasting Is Not Always What It Seems

They say fasting is good for you, but the word “fasting” does not always mean the same thing.

fasting is not always what it seems

There are many different forms of fasting. When someone tells you they are fasting, you really need to know what they mean by that.

Recently I had a conversation with my daughter about fasting. She told me she’s been doing intermittent fasting. When I heard the word “fasting”, the image I got in my head was that there was no food involved for a day or two days or longer. 

But that’s not what she was talking about. 

The thing is that we throw around the word “fast” like it’s well defined and a highly disciplined thing. 

For instance, right now the Muslim faith is in the middle of Ramadan. That is a month of fasting for them. When you hear that, you might think they are so committed and disciplined, but that you could never do it. You might wonder why you couldn’t be so committed to what you believe in. 

Well, what’s not necessarily communicated is that when muslims fast for a month, they fast during the day, but each night they have a big meal in celebration. 

With that information, you realize you could fast for a month if you could still eat every day. You would actually really enjoy that one meal you ate and look forward to it all day. 

When I was a youth pastor we did a 30-hour famine to raise money for World Relief. 

For the teens, it was a major commitment to fast for 30 hours. Yet in all the years we did it, we never lost a single student to starvation. 

Fasting is not something that I have readily done … maybe because I get hypoglycaemic. My blood sugar gets low and my body starts craving food. 

You’ve heard the word “hangry” – a combination of hungry and angry. That describes someone who is having a hypoglycaemic episode. My wife has to put up with a hangry husband most evenings when I come home from work. I need food, pretty much right when I get in the door. 

My daughter, Karlie, has the same condition I do, and she has recently discovered that intermittent fasting is working for her. 

When I heard her say intermittent fasting, what I thought of was fasting one day a week, or fasting one day and then again two days later. That sounds like intermittent to me. 

But that’s not what intermittent fasting is. It’s actually delaying your eating until later in the day. Basically, Karlie doesn’t eat her first meal of the day until lunch time. 

I used to do that when I was young, but I called it, “not eating breakfast”. I never associated it with fasting in any way. 

So when people tell you they are fasting, don’t think they are being heroic, or showing unbelievable discipline or dedication. 

Ask them a followup question like, “What kind of fasting are you doing?”

Here’s the thing: People fast in many forms for many different reasons. But about two thousand years ago, Jesus fasted for 40 days – no food. That fast was to wear Him down to be tested, tested to see if in a weakened state He would be faithful to the will of God, His Father. And Jesus passed the test. Later He passed the ultimate test by going to the cross to pay for our sins. You can trust Him.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What reasons have you fasted for? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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