Daniel 5

 I’m very unaccustomed to fasting for any length of time. Giving up something for the sake of more intense prayer changes a praying life. The temptations to have more possessions and manipulate what we do to increase our status and power is ever present. Giving up what the culture sees as needed to be normal is living counter cultural. Living a quiet life, carving out time for solitude and reflection is not fasting, but I’m trying to find a rhythm of a slower pace. 

“What if the formula “more stuff equals more happiness” is bad math? What if more stuff often just equals more stress? More hours at the office, more debt, more years working in a job I don’t feel called to, more time wasted cleaning and maintaining and fixing and playing with and organizing and reorganizing and updating all that junk I don’t even need. What if more stuff actually equals less of what matters most? Less time. Less financial freedom. Less generosity, which according to Jesus is where the real joy is. Less peace, as I hurry my way through the mall parking lot. Less focus on what life is actually about. Less mental real estate for creativity. Less relationships. Less margin. Less prayer. Less of what I actually ache for? What if I were to reject my culture’s messaging as a half-truth at best, if not a full-on lie, and live into another message? Another gospel?” - John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry