Fasting

Well believe it or not we are moving into the fasting period again,my how time flies by.
First I want to start by saying fasting,although encouraged by the Orthodox Church is really a discipline not an order.
The church encourages its members to try and follow the fast to the best of their ability.Not everyone is able to follow strictly to the rules but that is why we have Spiritual Fathers to help us along our path to do the best we can.
During Lent we are called to change our selves and hopefully try to be better more Christian people.Fr.Peter says "if your going to fast and be cruel to others then you may as well eat the hamburger cause you haven't achieved anything." Words to live by.
So just changing our dietary consumption is not all there is to Lent we must also consider what we can do to help others even if its nothing more then smiling and listening to another persons whoas.You know its not all about us and our pain.It's so much more.
With that said it is also about our own spiritual growth.Every year I have several books I read nightly and try to follow up with meditation and prayer but I must tell you this year I feel very overwhelmed with all the things I want to do spiritually. It seems impossible for me to figure out where to place each thing through out my day.
This probably is not a bad thing because I also feel excited and can't wait to start each and every one of them and hopefully make them a habit...We'll see..
Food is a small thing in my spiritual life.I look at fasting like I look at a diet each day I try to follow the rules but in times of true weakness I will give in,I always do.Then the next day I will start over and give it another try.
Last year I tried to make myself eat better and if I was going to eat carbohydrates I tried for whole wheat and whole grain and added soy to my diet for replacement of milk products,its no milk but then its not suppose to be.
This year I will also try for more fruit and vegetables and if all works out well maybe I may even drop a few pounds or at least not gain any weight.
So with excitement I enter this fasting period and hope to come out the other side a better person.I guess ...we'll see about that too...
Happy Fasting......