What is Air Fasting and How Can It Bring Gratitude For Life?
What the heck is Air Fasting?
Air fasting is a means of increasing our gratitude for the most fundamental blessings of life and recognizing the abundance that flows freely from God. This is accomplished by a forced recognition our most basic human need..….Air. We can go for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air; yet it is the most abundant resource we have. It fills the space around us and fills our lungs with the oxygen needed to sustain life.
Air fasting is a simple concept…..so simple you may dismiss it as foolish. But if done in a prayerful and meditative state, it will bring a high level of gratitude for life and a deeper connection with God.
How is Air Fasting Done?
First take several deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Feel the air flow in and out. Then take one last breath and hold it as long as possible. Pay close attention to your body’s response…..be the observer. Notice how your body transitions from a state of comfort, to an awareness of your need to breath, to full starvation of air. When you finally gasp for air you’ll take several quick involuntary breaths. After a few seconds when you regain composure, take several long deep breaths. With each breath reflect on the abundance with which God has blessed you. Feel the cool fresh air flow in and out and feel its life sustaining force replenish your body. Feel God in every breath and thank Him for every blessing in your life.
God is our Air
Air fasting brings to the for-front of our consciousness the degree to which we rely on resources we cannot provide, and forces us to be cognizant of the Provider. Furthermore, it demonstrates how our physical need for air represents our spiritual need for God. We gasp for spiritual breath after only moments of being without God…..and many are in a perpetual state of gasping. Let’s take time to be grateful. Let’s take time to acknowledge even our most fundamental blessings. As we recognize the hand of God in these most basic blessings we will live in a state of peace and gratitude and abundance will continue to flow into our lives.
7 Really Bizarre Things Christians have in common with Caterpillars
As we look into Nature, the patterns that God has set forth for mankind also become obvious.
One of the things I most enjoy is drawing parallels between man’s relationship with God and the rest of His creation. As weird as this may seem, books could be written (and probably have) on the similarities between the development that occurs in the life of a Christian and the life cycle of insects. Turns out we can learn a lot from these little critters. Well, I’m no biologist, so bare with me if some of my bug lingo isn’t perfect, but I think a quick study of this topic would be fun and may even provide some insights that strengthen our faith. Each of these 7 similarities between Christians and Caterpillars draws from resources about insects I found on the web. The quotes all come from an awesome site, Gordon’s Insect Life-Cycle’s Page,…..so thanks so much Gordon for the great content.
So without further ado, here are 7 Really Bizarre Things Christians have in common with Caterpillars:
1. Christians and Insects Develop in Natural Cycles
The development of a monarch butterfly (which will be the example for our entire study), is as follows:
The Life Cycle of the monarch butterfly:
Egg > Larva (caterpillar) > Pupa (cocoon/chrysalis) > Emerges as Butterfly
The Christian develops in a similar way:
Birth of Natural man > Flawed Man finds God > Man is Sanctified > Man emerges new creature
2. Christians and Caterpillars both have Imaginal Buds
What in the world is an imaginal bud?
“….in a number of places in the insects body are collections of special formative cells, which have played no part in the insects larval life, and have stayed hidden,…..each of these groups of cells is called an 'imaginal bud' or a 'histoblast'”
“The job of these histoblasts is to supervise the building of a new body [from] the old larval body [while inside the chrysalis]. This they do using the same biochemical processes that all insects use to turn their food into part of their bodies. This rebuilding process is called 'histogenesis'.”
So imagine Mr. Caterpillar crawling around with these lumps on his belly.
“What the heck are these things for?” is he probably asks himself. Little does he know that these ‘lumps’, even though slightly inconvenient, are the tools that God has given him to make it possible to fulfill the measure of his creation.
I believe Christians have imaginal buds too.
These are the qualities of our personality that we may have considered “in the way”, but were given to us by God to allow us fulfill the measure of our creation. When we find God, he destroys our carnal nature (if we allow him), and what remains are our ‘imaginal buds’ which are ultimately our core personality traits. Those qualities that make us unique, and have previously lain dormant or haven’t been fully optimized to accomplish God’s will. As we transform, God causes these deepest parts of our personality blossom allowing us to fulfill our own unique mission in life.
While growing up, for example, I was especially quiet and introspective, especially in public or around people I didn’t know. As I became older and I tried to overcome the fear of speaking out, this became a huge hindrance to my personal development. After years of working on this, I can now see that those characteristics that I most despised, actually give me a unique perspective on life that allow me to serve God in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
Probably the best example of this is the apostle Paul. Dude had some mad ‘imaginal buds’! Look at the personal traits he put to work for God after his ‘change’ occurred.
What ‘imaginal buds’ do you have that are still lying dormant?
3. Neither Christians or Caterpillars really Understand what they are to Become
Do you think a caterpillar really understands what he is destined to become?
I don’t, and I don’t know if it’s possible as Christians to fully understand what we are to become either. The caterpillar knows one thing: move and eat (now that’s something I can relate to!). A butterfly could land right beside him, and my guess is that he would have no concept that he would eventually become like that beautiful creature.
As Christians, we are aware that a transformation has occurred and will continue to take place, but we don’t have the advantage of seeing anyone who has completed the process. We have word that there was one who made the total transformation, but we’ll have to wait to meet Him face to face. In the mean time……we’ll just move and eat.
The important point is that we have to be careful not to underestimate our potential. We can’t forget that it is God’s plan for each of us to make a total transformation into a beautiful creature, regardless of hideous we believe ourselves to be at our current phase of the process.
Do you need encouragement on the days you're fighting your inner caterpillar?
4. Both Christians and Caterpillars are extremely vulnerable
The pupa phase is the period when the insect is undergoing the metamorphosis inside the chrysalis:
“During this time the insect is very vulnerable because it cannot run away, and this is why insects try to choose somewhere safe to hide away in when they are going through this incredible change,”
This reminded me of the phase of my life as a new Christian. I changed so much every day, and was so vulnerable to the challenges of the world. I needed somewhere safe to hide and found solace in prayer, the scriptures, and fellow believers who supported me as my faith developed. Let’s remember how tender he faith of the new believer is and do what’s possible to nurture them in their faith.
Who can you take under your wing?
5. Both Christians and Caterpillars Develop in stages:
“Insects do not appear to grow continuously the way we do because their skins cannot grow bigger as the insect grows, instead every now and then they shed their old skin and inflate a new larger one which they have built up inside their old one. Thus they appear to grow in a series of stages.”
We may not shed our skin as we grow physically, but I believe our spiritual development does occur in stages.
For example, I recently shed a spiritual skin. This may seem like a physical thing, but trust me, for me it was 100% spiritual. I have needed to take better care of my body for years. Lack of exercise, a fast food diet, and turning to the fork and knife for stress relief had me on a crash course for cardiac failure by the time I hit fifty (I just turned 33). It was time for a change, and change I did…..and for good too. For whatever reason I wasn’t previously ready to confront that issue in my life, but through the grace of God I continued to develop until I reached a point where it was possible.
Shedding that skin can almost be taken literally as I’m currently in the process of buying smaller clothes to fit my new body. What spiritual skin are you ready to shed?
6. Christians and Caterpillars both Transform from the inside out
During the metamorphosis inside the chrysalis:
“The first thing that happens is that a lot of the caterpillar’s old body dies. It is attacked by the same sort of juices the caterpillar used in its earlier life to digest its food, it would not be far wrong to say the caterpillar digests itself from the inside out, this process is called 'histolysis'.”
I would say that the process of sanctification in a Christian occurs in the exact same way. Christ is in our hearts, He lives inside of us. As we allow Him to work on us, the most awful and hideous parts of us are literally eaten away from the inside out. This is why Christianity is a holistic religion….it has to start with our core. Proclaiming to live it on the surface will never cut it because regardless of what we may say, the core will always remain rotten. Christ demands all of us, every part, and it’s impossible to make a total transformation without allowing Him to work on us from the inside out.
What part of your carnal nature are you reluctant to give to Christ?
7. Caterpillars and Christians are both Born Twice
What, you didn’t know butterflies were ‘born again’? What’s fascinating about this is that the process of ‘histolysis’ described above is very much like a physical death of the caterpillar. There is literally almost nothing of the old creature left when the majestic butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. It literally experiences a second birth. How amazing is this when considering the life of a Christian?
“Born again” is such a valid way to describe my existence. I literally reflect on the day I accepted Christ as my real birthday, and I view myself as a different creature since that event.
It is an absolute miracle that we have a Heavenly Father that provided a way for the miracle of Christ’s Atonement to occur in the lives of His children. Let’s be reminded of His divine plan for us the next time we see a caterpillar inching along a tree branch, or a butterfly perched on a flower. It’s my testimony that God does have a special purpose for each of us, and his process of helping us find happiness is just as natural as the one that transforms a lowly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Let’s allow Him into our lives, to change us into things of grandeur.
Comments are welcome and appreciated…as always.
