So, it’s that time of year again. The Baha’i Fast. Nineteen days of not eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. No mid-morning caffeine boost to keep the energy levels up. No water to slake the dry throat mid-afternoon. No cake or cookies to snack on through the day.

It’s wonderful! I love this period in the Baha’i calendar. Erica and I get up before sunrise to have our breakfast - a more substantial breakfast than we would usually eat, it has to be said - and then we return to bed (Is this heresy? Shouldn’t we be putting on our hair shirts and dashing out into the cold morning air?) to recite the longest of the prayers for the Fast, verse and verse about. We’ve done this for as long as I can remember (so that’s last week, then? Quiet, quiet, my soul, stop worrying about early-onset dementia), except when circumstances have kept us apart during the Fast. It’s special. It feels really good. It focuses us on what life is really about, on God, on love, on a life of service. And it brings us closer to each other.

Often the Fast coincides with a blast of cold weather, but today the sun is shining. Global warming has brought an early spring, the blossom has been emerging for the last couple of weeks. Not quite this far yet, but close.

Spring in Hertfordshire

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, fasting, prayer, spring

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