103. Desire—A Spring Equinox Celebration of Jesus Christ

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Hooray, GIA here.

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I'm this week's host of the

Creative Spiritual Journey podcast

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where Judy and I talk about those

things that bring us joy for me.

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I find joy by connecting with

nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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So here we are in March, which

means it's time for my Equinox.

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Celebration of Jesus Christ.

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Depending on which hemisphere you live

in, March can still feel very much

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like winter or very much like summer.

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But regardless of where you live,

we are coming up on March 20th,

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which is the equinox or the day when

light and dark are of equal length.

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I like to call this the tipping point

because as we pass March 20th, the days

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here in the Northern Hemisphere start

getting longer and we will tip into

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spring the return of life energy and hope.

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But as I learned while preparing for

my celebration this time of year has

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not always brought hope for all people.

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Any idea what the word march means?

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Turns out March is referring

to Mars, the Roman God of war.

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In Ancient Rome.

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March was the first month

of the year, which I love.

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I think spring is a great time to begin

the year, but in Rome it also marked the

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beginning of the military campaign season.

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that's a little depressing,

don't you think?

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It would.

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Sure.

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Take the joy out of a spring

to know your husband or sons.

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Were going off to war.

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So let's leave ancient Rome behind switch

to something a little more hopeful,

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cheerful, heartwarming, renewing, you

know, all those spring type words.

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How about we move to the Old Testament?

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I know the Old Testament

doesn't always sound.

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like the most cheerful place to

turn to, but believe it or not,

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there was some really good stuff

about Spring in the Old Testament.

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Listen to these lines

from the Song of Solomon.

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This is chapter two, verse 10 through 13.

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The ESV or English standard version reads.

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My beloved speaks and says to

me, arise my love, my beautiful

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one, and come away for behold.

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The winter is passed, the

rain is over and gone.

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The flowers appear on the earth.

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The time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtle

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dove is heard in our land.

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The fig tree ripens, its figs

and the vines are in blossom.

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They give forth fragrance.

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Arise my love, my beautiful

one, and come away.

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Isn't that gorgeous?

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What says spring more than

turtle, doves, blossoms and love.

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Now it's interesting to note that while

we call this collection of verses, the

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Song of Solomon, many modern scholars

believe that these verses were actually

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written after the time of Solomon and

only mention Solomon symbolically.

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regardless here is something I

love in relation to these verses,

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have you heard before that in the

Hebrew language, when a word is

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repeated, it amplifies its meaning?

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For example, the Holy of Holies means

the most holy, the most holy place,

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Well, another name for the Song of

Solomon is the Song of Songs, which

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means the greatest of songs, Which

I interpret to mean that the love

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story told in the Song of Songs is

the greatest of all love stories, and

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we know who these lovers are, right?

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It's the bride and the bridegroom.

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Or as Christians would say, it's

Jesus Christ and his church, or

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as I would say, it's Jesus Christ.

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And each of us, this is

our love story with Christ.

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Arise my love, my beautiful

one, and come away.

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That denotes the relationship

Christ wants to have with us.

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He is saying, come with me.

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I have so many amazing, beautiful

things to show you, to teach

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you to experience with you.

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Which leads me back to my

celebration of Jesus Christ.

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This relationship, this

beautiful relationship is the

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reason I want to celebrate.

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And of course, through this practice,

my celebration practice, my goal is

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to enhance and grow this relationship.

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So my question became, what do I want to

do this year to celebrate Jesus Christ?

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As I pondered this question, a story of

Jesus from the New Testament came to mind.

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Do you remember when Jesus was

asked why his followers didn't fast?

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Like the followers of John or

the Pharisees and Jesus replied

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saying something like, why

would they fast while I'm here?

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When the bridegroom is taken

away, then they will fast.

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This is an interesting

idea, don't you think?

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When the bridegroom isn't here, we fast.

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And he isn't here right now, is he?

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So my idea is that instead of feasting

for my celebration, I would like to fast.

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What do you think about that?

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Does fasting sound like

a good way to celebrate?

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I know I'm kind of weird.

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Maybe celebrate isn't the right word

for what I'm doing, but obviously I'm

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making this celebration very personal.

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If you want a more festive

experience, you will have to

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see how Judy likes to celebrate.

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She is much more social than I am,

but for me, the more I thought about

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this, the more I liked the idea.

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I love that fasting connects

the body and the spirit.

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It's a physical and a spiritual activity.

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And if you've been listening to this

podcast for a while, you know, I

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believe that the more I am connected

to my body, the more I am connected

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to this earth, and the more I am

connected to this earth, the more I am

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connected to its creator Jesus Christ.

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So I think it would be great to

experiment with this deeply personal

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experiential practice we call fasting.

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So let's talk about fasting, starting

with the physical side of things

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first, I want to acknowledge that

there are some real questions about

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how safe fasting is for women.

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A lot of early research on fasting

was actually done on men, and for

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a long time those results were just

assumed to apply to women as well.

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But as more studies focus specifically

on women, scientists are learning

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that women's endocrine systems are

generally more sensitive to calorie

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restrictions, which means that when

women significantly cut back on

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food, it can affect hormone balance.

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That doesn't mean

fasting is bad for women.

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It just means we need to

approach it a little differently.

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Here are some things to consider.

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First, make sure that you are very well

nourished before you fast, not just the

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day before, but several days before,

and focus on nutrient dense foods.

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Fasting shouldn't start

from a place of depletion.

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The reality is many women in our

society are chronically undernourished.

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we diet, we restrict, we skip meals,

and many run on stress and caffeine, and

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that's not a solid foundation for fasting

If you are already running on empty

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fasting can push your body into a stress

response instead of a meaningful rest.

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The second thing is this, listen

to your body while you're fasting.

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If it tells you it's time

to end the fast, do it.

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Your body isn't the enemy

of your spiritual life.

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It's part of it.

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If you override physical signals

in the name of discipline,

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you're missing the point.

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In my view, harming or pushing

your body for the sake of a

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spiritual gain isn't the goal.

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Fasting is most powerful when the

body and the spirit work together.

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you can't elevate one

while neglecting the other.

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It's a partnership.

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So please be aware of this and if you

need more information, jump online.

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There's a ton of material available.

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but why would we even consider

fasting if there could be concerns?

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The short answer is because

fasting, in conjunction with prayer

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is mentioned so often in scripture.

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Moses, Esther, Jesus, Alma, the younger,

the sons of Mosiah, king Benjamin,

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And the people of Nephi, just to mention

a few all fasted, and they fasted

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for a multitude of reasons, including

repentance, sorrow, healing, seeking

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guidance, preparation for missionary

work, national crisis, major decisions.

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But how does it work?

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What is it about going without

food that's so important?

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honestly.

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I can't answer this question.

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I could speculate, But while I

fasted a lot over the years, I've

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never really come to understand

it in a meaningful way for myself.

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So this is one of the reasons I am

experimenting with fasting during my

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seasonal celebration of Jesus Christ.

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Do I believe there is something important,

meaningful, and powerful about fasting?

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yes, most definitely.

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And I'm not the only

one who believes this.

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did you know that nearly every

religious tradition in the

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world has an element of fasting?

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We've got Christian Lent Islamic

Ramadan, Jewish Jean Kippur, and

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the list truly goes on and on.

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And you know what?

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I don't think it's a coincidence.

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I believe that spending time with

fasting is well worth my effort.

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So for a minute, I want to dive

into what I do know about fasting.

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First of all, there is

the physical aspect.

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When we fast, we turn on an action

in our bodies called autophagy,

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which basically is our body's built

in reset and recycling system.

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When we haven't eaten for a while, our

bodies shift from using incoming food for

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energy to tapping into stored resources.

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As part of that shift, our cells

start breaking down, worn out, or

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damage pieces and begin using those

materials to keep things running.

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It's a natural way.

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Our bodies adapt to short periods without

food and it's good for us because it helps

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keep our cells functioning efficiently.

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Sounds great, doesn't it?

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Fasting literally helps to clean

and repair our bodies, but what does

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that have to do with spirituality and

my relationship with Jesus Christ?

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For that, let's look a little deeper.

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If fasting is so good for us,

why doesn't everyone do it?

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Because for most of us, it's hard.

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Fasting brings up a natural biological

element called hunger, which leads

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me to ask, what is hunger really?

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While hunger is basically a mix

of hormones and brain signals

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designed to keep us alive

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For an average healthy person, there

are three key players that cause hunger.

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One of the main elements is ghrelin,

often called the hunger hormone.

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It rises around the times you usually eat,

Almost like your body runs on a schedule.

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So if you typically eat three

times a day, ghrelin will

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spike around those three times.

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If you generally only eat twice a

day, it will only spike twice a day.

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Isn't that interesting?

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Our bodies get to know us and adapt

to our circumstances and preferences.

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Now the helpful thing to know is

that these hunger waves usually

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peak for about 15 to 30 minutes

and then fade even if you don't eat

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anything, They won't last forever.

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Good to know, right?

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Another driver of hunger

is blood sugar spikes.

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Any sugar or refined carbs that a healthy

person were to eat before starting a

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fast may affect them one to three hours

later, but once that time has passed,

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blood sugar shouldn't be an issue.

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In regard to hunger.

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Now, some of you may be

saying that's not true.

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I have definitely felt my blood sugar

drop beyond the three hour mark.

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If you are very stressed, sleep deprived,

or have insulin resistance, your

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hormones can cause a blood sugar spike.

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But this is generally more of

a bump of energy, not a spike

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like you would feel from sugar.

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If you do experience more of a spike

like feeling, say a jittery sensation,

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a random wave of hunger or anxiety

that feels like I need something

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now in these cases, you are most

likely feeling emotional hunger.

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Ah, emotional hunger.

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It's so annoying, isn't it?

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Physical hunger will happily

accept any type of food you've got.

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It can be leftovers or whatever's in the

fridge, but emotional hunger is picky.

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It needs pizza, chips, chocolate,

ice cream, And I don't know about

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you, but one serving is never enough.

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I've got to eat the whole bag And

that is only enough if I start

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to feel sick, Can anyone relate?

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So if I were merely fasting for

autophagy that built-in recycling

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system, my advice for these hunger

cues would be first to pause and feel

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into what kind of hunger I think it is.

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ghrelin, blood sugar, or emotional, and

then I would decide if I need to ride

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the wave until it passes or if I need to

deal with the underlying emotional issue.

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In either case, I can mediate these

feelings of hunger by hydrating with

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water, having some herbal tea or even

electrolytes if I think I need 'em for

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those stickier emotional cravings.

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The most important thing I need is to have

a plan to plan a way to distract myself.

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This plan could include some

breathing exercises, journaling,

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going for a walk or calling a friend.

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Whatever it takes to

change my emotional state.

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These are all useful

strategies I could employ.

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But when I want to go beyond autophagy,

when I want to focus on the spiritual

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side, when I want to concentrate on prayer

and fasting, it's been on my mind that I

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shouldn't lean so heavily on distraction.

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Perhaps I should lean into

hunger, and here's why.

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Let's go back to the Song of Solomon.

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The Song of Songs, what would

I need to do to make this love

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story feel real in my body?

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What feeling could I

cultivate instead of hunger?

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Let me read this to you again.

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My beloved speaks and says to me,

arise my love, my beautiful one, and

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come away for behold, the winter is

passed, the rain is over and gone.

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The flowers appear on the earth.

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The time of singing has come, and

the voice of the turtle dove is heard

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in our land, the fig tree ripens its

fruits and the vines are in blossom.

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They give forth fragrance, a rise, my

love, my beautiful one, and come away.

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These verses are full of emotion,

but the one that stands out to me,

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the one that to me relates to fasting

and hunger, is the motion of desire.

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A rise, my love, my beautiful

one, and come away with me.

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Oh, that is some beautiful

desire, isn't it?

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Do you think fasting that desire

for food could be translated into

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my desire to be filled, satisfied,

nourished, sustained, blessed,

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energized, and restored by Jesus Christ.

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Like I said, I have no answers, but

working with the feeling of desire

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is how I plan to spend this year's

Equinox, celebration of Jesus Christ.

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When I feel that hunger, I plan

to lean into desire, try to fill

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my hunger with Jesus Christ.

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Instead of masking my desire, I

will flood my body with desire.

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It may not work completely.

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I may still resort to some

masking, but I hope to work with it

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So with all this in mind for my upcoming

Equinox celebration of Jesus Christ,

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my goal is to fast for 24 hours and

while doing so, to think of each growl

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of hunger and each twinge of desire

as a whisper from the bridegroom.

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Arise my love, my beautiful one, and

come away however you decide to spend

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your Equinox celebration this spring,

I hope it's magical I hope that

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next week you will check back with

the creative spiritual journey for

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a prayer, meditation about desire

and being filled with Jesus Christ.

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Until then, namaste.