As the pace quickens and responsibilities pile up, it’s easy to confuse urgency with importance. When everything feels demanding and immediate, perspective can slip, anxiety can rise, and clarity can fade. In those moments, fasting may be the most disciplined and necessary response. There is strength not just in moving fast, but in knowing when to fast — to stop, reflect, and stay grounded in purpose.
By fasting and watching...the flesh is
brought into subjection, the spirit
strengthened, and the heart made clean.
— Thomas à Kempis
Watch "Hold Fast" on the Educators Among Us Podcast
Fast is a multipurpose word that has important implications for everyone who teaches, coaches, and guides others. Speed is only one meaning of the word.
We can hold fast, staying firm, fixed, and persistent in our purpose and calling.
We can ride the fast lane, but it will surely make you lose your mind. (IYKYK)
We can fasten our seatbelt, remain steadfast, and fast from what is desired.
Fast, as a practice of self-discipline, is a most vital yet avoided use of the word.
Fasting helps us discipline the body
so that obedience becomes possible.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The practice of fasting exposes what is controlling our minds and behaviors.
Fasting from food has for centuries been a practice for physical and spiritual renewal, with that hunger reorienting us toward humility and dependence.
Fasting from social media is practiced by many to avoid distraction and vanity.
Fasting from certain people or habits can help limit their negative influence.
Such voluntary denial reveals hidden dependencies, cravings, and anxieties.
So we fasted and sought our God
concerning this matter, and
He listened to our entreaty.
― Ezra 8:23
Once discomfort becomes confused with necessity, we lose our vital capacity for deferred gratification. Fasting is our conscious choice of soul restoration.
Facing inner truths is hard because we so easily become overconfident experts. In humility, we can remember that we don't know better, we don't know more.
Fasting restores an inner steadfastness that allows other disciplines to emerge: restraint of our tongue, patience in conflict, and wisdom in decision-making.
Hold fast with purpose. Fasting, as opposed to acting fast, is effective in renewing your body, mind, and spirit to be faithfully attentive.
Listen to "Hold Fast" on the Educators Among Us Podcast
