wrap-up of my twenty-one day fast

Wrap-up of my twenty-one day fast

I had my first thing to eat today. It was oatmeal that Ella added dates, walnuts and Grape-Nuts to. It was delicious but, as I figured, it was not the ultimate of creation. Not sure why.

I do know that those things so greatly anticipated are never quite what you thought they would be. That is case with a lot of things in this life. And oatmeal is not among the pantheon of great and wonderful things. It is good and I like it, but still. It is just oatmeal.

The fast ends with a lot of physical problems and an astonishing weight loss of 55-60 pounds, depending on how accurate my scale is. That is just in three weeks. I never anticipated that, and my body has let me know that it did not like it.

Now comes the rebuilding process and an addition 30 pounds that I want to lose. I guess that in just three weeks, I fulfilled one of my New Year’s Resolutions, the one that said I would lose 50 pounds. Good deal, I guess. That is not why I went on the fast, but given to me by God in the fasting.

I am still processing what I have learned from the fast and will blog it later.

For now, it all ends on a sad note. My father, who is 82 and has Alzheimer’s along with two forms of cancer and a stroke, is about to die. We are waiting for the message and will go to Tyler, TX, when it happens. 750 miles there, 1300 round trip.

It hurts to hear this. He has always been a strong vital man and my mother is in pain at losing her lover. On top of it all, yesterday was their anniversary, and I doubt sincerely that he was even aware of it.

I still do not know why the Lord has put me so far away from my family. The immediate aphorism that comes to hand for most people is that he had some good reason and a job for me here. That trips so liltingly off the tongue but is just that: an aphorism. And sometimes a rather meaningless and irritating one, as most aphorisms are.

Now I wait.

Father God, I ask you for power for my mother, and I ask you to take my father quickly if he is not to be healed. Help us, his children, to know your grace in this time of grief. Bless us. I praise you. Amen.