A Dusty Well-worn Path

We fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.

—Ezra 8:23

Fasting is more about desperation than anything else. I was feeling totally untethered to God or anything else and wanted to find a way to connect once again to the things that matter to me. Fasting was a move of desperation.

I found the rhythm of set prayer times to be an undergirding to my day. I made progress on things I’d been dragging my feet on for weeks. It was a week of complaining and hunger and silence, but it was also a grounding, exciting week, opening us to a better way of living. When I do something that people have been doing for thousands of years, like reading the Bible or fasting or set prayer times, at first I think I should tell a lot of people about this new, wonderful thing.

Then I realize that it’s not a new practice or the next big idea. It’s an enduring way of living that has been shaping and reshaping people for years. When I fasted and prayed on a set rhythm, I felt humble, one more set of footprints on a dusty well-worn path, discovering something new that’s not new at all, and I was thankful.