The menudo fast

My church recently finished a 21-day corporate fast. No, I didn’t fast from menudo. But it sure made for some great clickbait, didn’t it?

So, when I prayed about how I was going to fast this time, I felt like God wanted me to fast for only 15 days. (I broke this past Tuesday.) God said I could eat “soup or whatever is put in front of you.” That was fun because one morning, doughnuts were in front of me. And God was OK with that. (And I was also instructed to drink my morning coffee black during the 15 days. No dunking.)

In case you’re reading this and wondering why I’m writing about fasting, well, God and I have kind of developed fasting as a sort of family tradition over the years. In June, I observe a two-week salad fast; in January, I observe a soup fast. Both fasts usually end up kicking my butt, but I’m glad that I get to eat something. And I like to write here about what I learn.

 

This time around, since I’ve been extremely tight on funds, I mainly used whatever was in my kitchen. So, I made a lot of my own soups. I also felt like God kept nudging me to make “dessert soup,” so on a couple of occasions I crumbled up some cookies into a bowl, added milk, and microwaved it. (Whoever thinks God is boring doesn’t know Him very well.)

Whenever I’ve fasted in recent years, it’s been more about God talking to me through the symbolism than about whatever it is I’m giving up. 

 

One day, since I didn’t have any chicken or vegetable stock handy, I decided to make my own stock out of red sauce (I think the kind you would use to make enchiladas). I didn’t realize how spicy that would be... especially after I added even more spices to it. The result was something almost inedible, but as the days went by I would add extra things to the soup like rice or oyster crackers to make it more palatable. Then it would taste like menudo. I felt like I was on a menudo fast.

But when the soup was still almost inedible, I was like, “WHOO! That’s spicy.” God was like “So are you.” Ha, ha.

Yes, if you’ve known me in recent years (or if you’ve just been curious enough to stick around and see what would happen to me), you’ve probably seen me fly off the handle a time or two. So, I got to wondering what kind of things God adds to ME to make ME more palatable. Then I remembered...

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Hmm. Yes, that would do it.

I also wondered why God wanted me to fast for only 15 days. So, I started looking into the number 15, and according to a website that I found, the number 15 in the Bible symbolizes rest. Hmm. I’ve been through some stuff and could definitely use some rest.

I also got to thinking about the type of fasting I was doing. What’s so special about soup? Well, if it was floating around in a bowl, cup, mug, etc., I could eat it. That was the boundary. Or if I were attending a special event where a specific type of food was served (not soup), I could eat that.

I don’t think it’s an accident that I went back to school while I was fasting. My life has made a sudden shift in direction, as I am now a full-time college student again. During the first week of school, I found myself missing my old college roommate (from the 1990s). I didn’t have anyone interrupting my studies to chitchat, and I didn’t have anyone planning to eat dinner with me every night, so I was able to stay intensely focused on my studies... which I didn’t really do the first time I was in college. But I felt my old workaholic tendencies click on again (the ones that drove me to volunteer for overtime and not have any kind of life while I was working). So, it’s not an accident that I was thinking about boundaries and about how I need to set some new boundaries for myself during this new season.

One thing that will help is that I will start a new part-time job on Monday. I haven’t worked in the past two weeks, and I don’t know how I’m going to pay my rent next week -- other than the fact that God will continue to provide. But I think one reason why I have peace about it -- besides the fact that God will continue to provide -- is that He’s been training me to simply eat what’s in front of me. Rent isn’t due today; it’s not in front of me. Today was my Sabbath; rest was in front of me. I got to gobble that all up. And have I mentioned the fact that God will continue to provide?

The next time I hit the books, there won’t be any reason to obsess over everything that will be due between now and May, and there won’t be any reason to freak out about something that I won’t be able to start working on right away. What I’ll need to focus on is simply what’s in front of me.

Hmm. Now I want menudo.