Ramadan Reflections

Happy Eid!

For the past 30 days, I have been observing Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. This is fasting from not only food, but also bad thoughts, actions and habitats.

I observed a modified fasting from food during the day, rather than sun up (about 4:30) to sun down, I tried to have breakfast before 8 or 8:30 and supper after 7:00/7:30. The fasting from the food was the easiest part. After a couple of days, I no longer felt the hunger. There was a pretty reliable headache that came around 5:30.

The more difficult fast was the fast from bad thoughts and actions, especially the thoughts. While I tend to thing of myself as a pretty optimistic person, I began to be aware of the number of times I got frustrated, angry or upset about little things that really should not have bothered me. This has been the biggest struggle and something I hope to continue to be aware of even as this month ends.

The other thing that made this month particularly interesting was the realization of how much our life revolves around food. Being in a new place and new job I have found this particularly true in regards to demonstrating hospitality. Every time we would go to a new place, people offer to feed you. Our major conversation and end of day happen over a meal. Even our church services revolve around the preparation and eating of a meal.

Observing Ramadan was a wonderful experience for me. While I may have been something that was Ramadan in its roots, I found a deeper level of my Christian faith during these past days. Such a later part of our Christian faith is walking with others along their journey, Not as a superior telling them how to walk, but rather side by side as their brother or sister hearing their story and being with them in that story. That is what the past month has been for me. A journey walking with my brothers and sisters in humanity, trying to understand their deep faith and their spiritual practices and to find some meaning in those practices for myself.