Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? [Isaiah 58:6]
Fasting has been narrowed in recent years to being about the food and beverage consumption: no lunch or no sugar or no alcohol or no carbs (oops, that’s a diet option). And that’s the problem, we live in a dieting world where the giving up of one element or another is this short term option that will give us some relatively immediate results. But I am pretty sure that fasting for God is a different mindset. It’s not even intended that this “giving up” be over the long haul. Not really.
Just because Jesus fasted for forty days doesn’t mean we need to fast from food and drink for the same amount of time. Besides, unless we have the the other disciplines going hand in hand with the fasting, it will be a futile effort. Fasting, in and of itself, is not the point.
It’s the change-up. It’s doing life differently. It’s making room for something else. It’s intentionally making a sacrifice in order to intentionally choose time and energy for God.
I remember trying to explain this process to my kids when they were younger and it never really quite took hold. Generally, they concentrated on those food items they could tolerate being without: ice cream, soda, desserts, pizza (well, no, I don’t think they ever did give up eating pizza for Lent or any other time).
This year, I am tossing in a few sacrificial lambs like sodas and lattes and even Words with Friends, but my sense of them is different. These acts feel inconsequential in the face of what I want this time to be about: a centering inside time, a time to know prayer in a deeper way, an unearthing of my soul from the tangles of my busy life (this is my yoke referenced in Isaiah). Can I slow down enough to do it? Can I open the clock for meditation and silence?
When Jesus met the woman at the well, his disciples were out getting carry out. When they got back, they offered him his share but he didn’t need it. He was full from the discourse and connection of two souls.
Meditations from Zion 
John 3:30 I must decrease, He must increase.
I agree with you about the focus on trying to give up something for the sake of lent. It can make one feel good as they are trying achieve this goal of giving up something of worth (food, facebook, etc). But what should the real focus be as we are following Jesus’ dark days to the cross? Is giving up something a way to get more of Him?
I do believe there is too much emphasis on the external things to be given up and then after Easter we go back doing the thing we gave up for Easter.
It is a matter of the heart where Jesus wants more of. As I consider the passage in Galatians 5 on the “Fruit of the Spirit” can I understand the I need to die to self in order for Him to increase.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment.
I always look forward to the time of Lent and have been marking it for some years. I think it’s a good thing that people are coming back to some of the elements of the Christian calendar and cycles. But like you, I hope we can keep the focus on the journey of the heart. IB