‘Playing fast and loose’ apparently is an allusion to an old cheating game once practised at fairs. A belt or strap was doubled and rolled up with the loop in the centre and placed on the edge of a table. The player then had to catch the loop with a skewer while the belt was unrolled, but this was done in such a way by the perpetrator that it was impossible to win. Over time, ‘playing fast and loose’ has come to mean having a lack of regard for rules or behave recklessly or immorally.
It’s a phrase that popped into my head when I was reading the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:16,”Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting.”
If you have started a Lenten fast – however strict your practice is – I would imagine that coming into the second week is one of the hardest patches in the six week season. It starts being a novelty, then once you get over half way there is the encouragement of being over the ‘hump’ and the end being in sight. But weeks two and three must be a struggle. The temptation must be to make sure everyone knows, to play it for all its worth, like in the game to cheat to gain the advantage.