It’s no surprise that the language that the Fathers of the Church often use when they talk about the Great Fast of Lent is the language of spiritual athleticism. “Strip yourselves,” wrote St. John Chrysostom, “for it is the season of wrestling.”

First, I want you to come up with a realistic plan and stick with it. Approach the Fast with perseverence. The Church's rules for the Lent are difficult. Almost two months with no meat, no fish, no cheese, no milk, no alcohol. This is the goal that all of us should strive for in our fasting. But all of us will struggle. Push yourself; try harder than you've ever tried to keep the Fast. And when you falter, get back on track. Persevere.

Second, I want you to start to change your relationship to food by changing the place that it holds in your lives. The disorder in our eating isn't just about what we eat. It's about how we eat. We need to slow down. How many of us eat on the run? In our cars? In front of the television? In front of the computer? How often do we eat, and then realize that we didn't even taste what we were eating? How can we be truly grateful for our food when we eat like this? A fellow priest told me the story of how when his son was young, they used to go to lunch together. One day, his son told him, "Dad, I think that every time we eat together, it's a blow against the devil." Don't eat like you're putting gas in your car. Eat simpler, eat slower, and eat together. Turn off the TV, and make a meal with your family. Then thank God, sit with each other, and share in the joy of the companionship and the taste of the food. Then, go beyond even this. Find someone in your parish who doesn't have family to eat with, and invite them over for a meal.

Third, I want you to remember every day that the Fast is about much more than food. It's about God. Our faith is a sacramental faith. The earthly bounty of this world is not evil-it is a gift from God that we should partake of in gratitude. The problem is that we don't remember that God must come first. We forget that our first need, our first hunger, is for God. We use things-including food-to try to fill a God-shaped hole in our lives. So, make this Fast a time to turn towards God. Don't fast like you're denying yourself something. Fast like you're giving yourself something-like you're giving yourself God.

This is what the Fast is about. The whole purpose of this time of training, of spiritual athleticism, is to bring ourselves back to God. To bring our attention back where it belongs. This is how I want you to approach all the disciplines of Great Lent. Stop obsessing about food: Fast, and draw closer to God. Stop obsessing about money: Give alms, and draw closer to God. Stop obsessing about time: Come to church for worship, and draw closer to God.

Great Lent, our season of joyful sadness, is upon us. So make a plan, and persevere. Eat simpler, slower, and with companionship. And remember that the reason is so that you can make space in your life for God.

Because in the end, the old saying really is true-you are what you eat. And what is it that our Lord Jesus has revealed to us? Remember His words from the Last Supper, that we'll hear at the conclusion of our journey through Lent:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. ... Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."

Fr. Christopher Metropulos is founder, host, and executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) and the Come Receive The Light national Orthodox Christian radio program (www.myocn.net). He is pastor of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he and his wife Georgia are raising their six children.