What NOT To Do On The First Day Of The Baha'i Fast

This afternoon I realized I have something in common with Dracula. We're both anxiously awaiting the setting of the sun so we can eat. But that's where the similarities end.

When the sun sets at 5:51 PM, The Count will surely be somewhere sucking down some sweet type O- blood.

Me? Not so much. I'm hungry, not crazy! Besides, I'm thinking that my tofu stir fry will hopefully taste just fine.

But why am I waiting for the sun to set? Why not just go eat a bowlful of stir-fry right now?

You see, boys and girls, it's that most exciting time of the year, the 19-day Baha'i Fast! Yes, starting today, I'm not eating or drinking anything between sunrise and sunset, not even sucking moisture off my toothbrush!

I usually blog about the Fast at the END so that every post isn't a laundry list of everything I want to eat. But this year, I'm going to tell you about it from the beginning, especially because it started out, well, pretty badly.

Yeah, let me tell you how not to start out 19 days of fasting: You don't start off by sleeping through your alarm clock! I can't begin to tell you how awful it was to wake up at 6:50 and realize that the sun had already been up for 30 minutes! Thank you, alarm clock malfunction (which was probably somehow my fault but let's not talk about that okay!)

And so, at that point, I had a choice. Do I eat because, well, I'm hungry and it's not like anybody's around to see. Or do I recognize that doing the Fast is about more than food. It's about developing my spiritual capacity. It's about how much temptation can I resist?

I wrote this last year and I think it applied perfectly to the situation I found myself in this morning:

"Our society is one where instant gratification is the norm. We can revert to that sort of childish behavior where we think we should have what we want when we want it, no matter what. And then we wonder why we have such huge problems with addictions of all kinds: food, alcohol, drugs, shopping, gossip, political bickering, and on and on. So the Fast (like Ramadan, Lent and Yom Kippur) is a time to step back from all the selfishness we surround ourselves with."

I thought about sacrifice and being able to say no to my own desires. Can I say no to things I want if they're not what's best for me?

I didn't eat all day. Yes, I though I was going to die when my boys were eating potato chips after school. Potato chips have never smelled SO good!

Now, I'm only three minutes away from sunset. I resisted temptation. I'm not always able to say that I've done that so I feel pretty good... and gosh I am SO looking forward to dinner.

Let's just hope Dracula doesn't come knocking on my door looking to make a dinner out of me!