Fasting, Feasting

I have amazing aunts.  When I am around them, I feel loved, and known, and understood, and special.  (And this is important for everyone, I think, but particularly for a fourth sister who has three very spectacular older sisters to live up to, and doesn't often feel special at all.)

But most of all, we laugh.
We laugh and laugh and cry and laugh some more.

One of my aunts posted this hilarious meme today:

And I died laughing because same and all year long.

But it also made me happy because it's true.
Having food in my cupboard is a gift.
There's a feast in there at any given time, and this amazes me.

When Patrick and I were newlywed students, we lived on the leftovers we brought home from working our jobs at a restaurant. Our cupboards were leaner then, and sometimes I shake my head when I realize how completely cared for we have always been.

And at this time of year, when the temperatures plunge and some people have to choose between paying for heating or eating, we're challenged by the One who became poor for our sake.  Whether our cupboards look like we're fasting or feasting, this is the standard to which christians are called:

Is not this the fast that I choose:

 to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

(Isaiah 58:6-7)

This is the fast He chooses. 

Because He wants to make us like Himself.  

Jesus came to loose the bonds of wickedness, to set us free from enslavement to sin. He sets us free from oppression and burdens that others place upon us. He is the bread of life, welcoming us into His house to feast in His presence, and He covers us in His glory. 

So.

(Always, but especially at Christmas:)

Because He is bread, we share our bread.

Because He is freedom, we pursue freedom for those who cannot set themselves free.

Because He covers us, we shelter others.

Because He came to us, we must go to meet others in need.

And that last bit - not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  Get thee to a family reunion ... and maybe, if you're lucky, you'll have an aunt or two like mine ;).

In fasting, and in feasting - Merry Christmas, friends.

xo.