Ramadan
Today I had a 5th Grade Muslim student I was helping give a test to. As we walked down the hall her stomach was grumbling and she held her belly in embarrassment and then explained. "It's the first day of Ramadan. So I had to get up at 4:00 this morning to eat before morning prayer and while it was still dark. It's hard to feel hungry and my mouth is dry. But then I think of the needy and I am grateful that I don't feel like this all the time. Some of them do. That's important to remember, don't you think?" She asked if I have ever fasted. I said yes, and in fact would be fasting for an acquaintance's baby this week and that in my faith we also fast monthly to consider the needs of the poor and donate for them. "We donate to the needy too." She smiled and said, "I feel inside it's a good thing to understand each other." Isaiah 58 teaches powerfully of fasting. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the b...