Fasting Friday 3

More fasting ideas cribbed from Deacon Nick Senger with comments from Yr Obdt Svt:

• Each week, write a letter of thanks to a different member of the clergy, beginning with your bishop and parish priest.

• I spend all day writing.  I think I’ll pass on this.

• Each week write a thank-you note to your parents. I send my thank yous to Mom and Dad via prayer.  I need to do that more often though.

• Write a poem of praise for each person in your family. Hmmmm… I like this.   I wrote this for Janet back in May 2016.

The Key to My Heart
For Janet

How can it be that I feel younger
now, with you, than I did in grey youth? Grimly
pacing the cage of my lonely hunger
for love, I tested the bars and dimly
saw no way I would ever feel joy’s breeze
on my face.  But Love–whose whimsy and light
laugh was, from the deeps of  time, revealed
anew in your caress, your kiss, your bright
smile–gave the key, and freed me to walk
in the open air with your cool, good hand
in mine. And since that day your love unlocked
my heart I have not aged, but ripened and
grown golden in the glory of your face,
upturned, shining, silver-framed with God’s grace.

I think poems for my sons would make them feel weird and awkward.  But maybe letters?

• Get a stack of sticky-notes and write one sentence of thanks each day and stick it to the bedroom door of each person in your family so that by Easter they each have 40 sticky-notes. This seems more like an annoyance than a blessing to them. Pass.
• Find the psalms of thanksgiving or praise in the Bible and pray them. I like doing this. 
• Write a list of the ways God has blessed you and add to it each day. This could be done in a notebook or on a big poster hanging on your wall. I do this when I walk sometimes.  It can be remarkably healing.
• At dinner each evening ask your family to share one thing for which they are grateful. First, we need to eat dinner together, he said with embarrassment.
• Make a CD or iPod playlist of praise and worship music and listen to it each day. Pass.  Music distracts when I’m writing.
  Make a point of saying “Thank You” a certain number of times per day. Thank you for providing this useful list of ideas, Deacon Nick.
• Help your children write thank you letters to their teachers. Not addressed to my condition.
• Go for a walk each day with a loved one and talk about life and faith. Jan and I do this sometimes, though not every day.
• Take the kids to the park each week for some carefree time. Zoo and aquarium are fun too.
• Give up fast food and give the money to charity. Hmmmm….
• Exercise each day. I try to do that anyway.
• Spend at least half an hour each day in meaningful conversation with your spouse. I like this idea.
• Go on a Lenten retreat. Not happening this year.
  Pray with Sacred Space each day. Each day, no.  But I try to get to Adoration and read the Psalms.
• Commit to a daily 3 Minute Retreat. Maybe.
• Begin the online 34-week Retreat for Everyday Life. Not happening.
• Give up your most unhealthy habit. So many to choose from.