Social Fasting

I’m currently on day 7 out of 14 of a totally isolated quarantine, which has been a unique experience. Hopefully there will never be any other time in my life where I spend 14 days in a room completely by myself, dependent on the fairies that drop off my meals once a day. I’m being forced to fast from people, and just like in fasting from food, it is helping me to appreciate how much basic human interactions play a role in our spiritual lives. We are clearly created to be in community and express a more true version of humanity when we meet and talk to others face-to-face. I would not have chosen this fast for myself.

I have every confidence, however, that God will use this time of deprivation to draw me into himself. I’m starting to lean into that need for other people so that God can fill it. It took me more than a few days to figure it out because it’s much easier to let myself be distracted and fill my time with idle pursuits, but I can feel new richness and depth in those times when I turn off Netflix or put away my book to attend to what the Spirit wants to do. Quarantine is becoming space, space for me to simply be and for God to do a good work.

This is a short poem that I wrote during a different time of rest (definitely not as isolated) in response to a question from a devotional: How do I move toward God? I found it relevant now.

I certainly look forward to the day when I can finally see another person’s face and hear a different voice in real life (I’ll probably even embrace *gags* small talk). Part of the beauty and goodness of fasting is the longing and anticipation to break the fast, but for now I’m content to sit in this space.