Jesus believed in fasting, but not in the way the sanctimonius Pharisees practiced it. They would cover their heads with ashes and parade through the marketplace in tattered robes as a sign to all that they were fasting. Jesus on the other hand, fasted in private, far from the public square. He considered such public displays of piety mere empty gestures and compared them to old wineskins unable to hold wine and old garments too tattered to hold patches.

The Pharisees could not accept what Jesus said. They were so rooted in the old way of doing things that the could no longer grow spiritually.

Without realizing it, we, too, may cling to the past in ways that constrain our spiritual growth.

I was reminded of that recently when buying plants for our flower garden. This late in the season, the plants tend to be a little leggy, dried out and root bound. They have outgrown their once comfortable containers and their roots are showing through the bottom of the pot. To get them out, I had to squeeze hard against the sides of the pots and trim away some of the roots. If I hadn’t, the plants would have remained stuck in the past and soon would have withered and died.

In order to continue growing, the plants had to go through a painful transformative experience. In transplanting, parts of the roots and stems broke off.

All growth involves some pain, some letting go of possessions, of people, of past regrets and painful memories. Fasting teaches us to let go of what is no longer important for our personal growth

In today’s economy, many people are being forced to leave part of their past behind. One result has been a spike in the number of abandoned public storage sheds. After 90 days, the contents of abandoned sheds are put up for auction. Total strangers stand outside the lockers and bid a few dollars for the entire contents - - things once considered so valuable that the original owner couldn’t part with them.

Sometimes we have to shed part of the past in order to make the most of the present. Fasting helps prepare us to make those choices.