Last week, I wrote a post asking “are cravings chasing you? And now I know why that was on my heart. Although that post confused me, I rationalized that it was ok for me to want these things. And if my heart only wants these things to utilize as a creative outlet, maybe it still is ok. I don’t know. I’m still pretty darn confused! But one thing is for sure. Our world (me included) lives in a world of excess. I got a message from my friend Alene at PositivelyAlene inviting me to join her and a handful of Christian bloggers in a faith related challenge. A challenge to change our hearts in regards to this excess.
In this book, Jen Hatmaker takes 7 months to simplify and remove the excess from her life in the following areas: Food, Clothes, Possessions, Media, Waste, Spending and Stress.
But she doesn’t do this to just take on the challenge and to make it through it. She does it because our Savior calls us to be more like Him. More loving to those around us. More giving to those in need.
There are so many people around the world, starving. Yet I forgot about that produce that has to be thrown out now. There are so many people who have so little clothes (ok, I might be one of them considering I have little that fits! Just kidding!)…so many that are happy to have the few clothing items they have, yet I have to shop at American Eagle to find jeans. There are so many people with so little, yet I have a 3 bedroom/2 bath house with a giant yard with a stupid amount of stuff we have accumulated over the years, yet there are people living out there with so little to thier name. There are so many people who don’t even know what social media/internet/technology is and yet, I use it everyday. Multiple times a day. I waste. I spend. I stress.
“I wanted to be more like Jesus, except when I didn’t” That’s what Jen Hatmaker said. It’s honest. And I say ditto. I want to be more like Jesus except….
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my many food options and that I can meal plan and go to the store for whatever the heck I need.
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my technology and having information at my fingertips through the internet any a moment’s notice.
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my many clothes and many shoes options.
I like having all the “stuff” but at the same time, I don’t.
It’s complicated.
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my many food options and that I can meal plan and go to the store for whatever the heck I need.
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my technology and having information at my fingertips through the internet any a moment’s notice.
I want to be more like Jesus except I like my many clothes and many shoes options.
I like having all the “stuff” but at the same time, I don’t.
It’s complicated.
Some of the stuff makes like easier. Without the technology, living 900 miles away from my family would be very sad. My son knows his grandparents thanks to the nearly daily iPad facetime we have in between actual visits. Not all of what we have is bad, its just that we have sooooo much when others don’t.
The husband is willingly joining me on this journey. I’m such a lucky wife! We are so blessed to have everything that we do and we are so thankful for all that we have. But in doing this experiment, we hope our hearts will change. That we will have a heart for those around us and those in need. And that we will be satisfied with much less.
Over the following weeks, We will focus on simplifying our lives in the following areas and for each of us that are participating in this blog, we are creating “rules” for ourselves that we don’t ordinarily follow. Rules that will hopefully change our hearts because we have to make dramatic changes to our current lifestyle. Now granted, it is only for one week each. But perhaps it will create some lasting changes in our lifestyle and our hearts.
Here’s the schedule.
June 3-9 FOOD
June 10-16 CLOTHES
June 17-23 POSSESSIONS
June 24-30 SPENDING
July 1-7 STRESS
July 8-14 MEDIA
July 15- 21 WASTE
Dr Hubs and I will discuss/create the rules as each week comes about, and each Monday I will blog about the coming week and what it entails. I will be reading the corresponding chapter of 7 that goes with each week as well. On Saturday, I will post the results of the week. I am planning on keeping a short diary of sorts for each day as the week progresses and I will post that on Saturday. And you can also find mecomplaining discussing my journey on twitter too! (#summerof7)
So for this week, the focus is food and here are our following rules.
1) We will be boycotting (mostly- that’s explained in rule 2) the grocery store and restaurants this week. I was due to go to the store this week, however, we still have alot of food and my meal planning will be based off of what we already have. Poor Hubby. No Freebirds Mondays 🙁 And meal planning is going to be interesting…
2) I say mostly boycotting because I still have a toddler to feed! I am not going to deny him milk just because we run out so we may have to go to the store to get him milk. But other than that if we need any food, it will be from the local farmers market only. I sure hope they have eggs, considering I only have 6 eggs left!
3) Drink only water.
4) We want each week to have a task of giving. So for this week, we are going to contact a local food bank and ask what types of foods they are in need of and go through our pantry to match what they need.
Wanna hop on the crazy train with us and join the Summer of 7? Check out Katrina’s site, The Poorganic Life for the details! And join the Blog Hop!
Over the following weeks, We will focus on simplifying our lives in the following areas and for each of us that are participating in this blog, we are creating “rules” for ourselves that we don’t ordinarily follow. Rules that will hopefully change our hearts because we have to make dramatic changes to our current lifestyle. Now granted, it is only for one week each. But perhaps it will create some lasting changes in our lifestyle and our hearts.
Here’s the schedule.
June 3-9 FOOD
June 10-16 CLOTHES
June 17-23 POSSESSIONS
June 24-30 SPENDING
July 1-7 STRESS
July 8-14 MEDIA
July 15- 21 WASTE
Dr Hubs and I will discuss/create the rules as each week comes about, and each Monday I will blog about the coming week and what it entails. I will be reading the corresponding chapter of 7 that goes with each week as well. On Saturday, I will post the results of the week. I am planning on keeping a short diary of sorts for each day as the week progresses and I will post that on Saturday. And you can also find me
So for this week, the focus is food and here are our following rules.
1) We will be boycotting (mostly- that’s explained in rule 2) the grocery store and restaurants this week. I was due to go to the store this week, however, we still have alot of food and my meal planning will be based off of what we already have. Poor Hubby. No Freebirds Mondays 🙁 And meal planning is going to be interesting…
2) I say mostly boycotting because I still have a toddler to feed! I am not going to deny him milk just because we run out so we may have to go to the store to get him milk. But other than that if we need any food, it will be from the local farmers market only. I sure hope they have eggs, considering I only have 6 eggs left!
3) Drink only water.
4) We want each week to have a task of giving. So for this week, we are going to contact a local food bank and ask what types of foods they are in need of and go through our pantry to match what they need.
Wanna hop on the crazy train with us and join the Summer of 7? Check out Katrina’s site, The Poorganic Life for the details! And join the Blog Hop!
“It's complicated” Yep! That's basically how I feel about the whole thing. Where do we draw the line? I never know.
It's so confusing! I pray God opens my eyes and makes it less complicated!!