I just finished up reading 7 by Jen Hatmaker. It's incredible. I hadn't heard of her or read her blog or any of her other books before but now I think I may be hooked - if I had time to read blogs (which is sort of odd that I keep one but don't have much time to read. . . .that's life with little ones I suppose.) Anyways, I have a handful of books I've started this summer and am still reading. This one was on my "to read" list but forgotten as I had to library loan it from a library other than mine and it took a LONG time to come in. So long that I had forgotten that I requested it and when it came in I almost gave up getting it. However, it happened that it was still waiting for me when checking out books for the kids and I took it home. Once I started it I could hardly put it down. Jen puts into words and ideas and experiments almost everything I've been feeling and thinking in my heart and head for a long time. I see commercials and billboards encouraging consumerism - it will make you rich, it will make you happy, it will get you better behaved children, blah blah blah - and how easy it is to fall into that trap sometimes. How easy is it to buy new these days. We're not encouraged to reuse or fix - junk it, it's going into a landfill somewhere where you'll never see it again or put it in a "in case I get a round tuit" box using up space in your house (space that could be used for better). Just buy new and buy now.
Also - another issue I have, in particular with my own flesh and blood and that of which I married - media!!! Ah! I am taking another facebook hiatus because of 7. I've done it before and it was wonderful. I feel like I don't talk to half my "friends" besides facebook and some annoy me terribly and make my day miserable just by reading their status updates and then I end up being judgemental either towards them and sometimes towards myself when I compare a "friend" and me because I can't be the super-mom-woman-career person-athlete (insert any number of hats here) that they are and forget that God made me to be and do what I'm doing and He's given me grace beyond measure so stop comparing!!! My kids and hubby on the other hand don't facebook but TV and video games are entertainment of choice. The childrens think I'm a terrible mom because I only allow 30 minutes of screen time a day per child. They are going to hate me when I make it an hour total for all of them - like when Doc gets to start choosing time. Right now they watch each other play computer games or each other's shows so they are sitting in front of a screen for an hour total, which would turn to an hour and a half when Doc gets in on the action and two hours when The New Baby (yes, due Feb. 1st) gets to that point. Now throw in Hubby who also loves computer games and the wii and playstation . . . the kids really get more when he gets home because that's his play of choice for Big Brother and sometimes Half-pint "plays" too. And after the kids are in bed, Hubby likes to "relax" with a show or movie, but I don't, but I end up watching because it's our time together. I like a few shows and I enjoy a movie here or there but it's not my entertainment of choice. Thankfully neither of us are smartphone people yet, especially the ones that sit with each other and don't speak a word because they are busy surfing, texting, facebooking instead of having meaningful conversation with the one Right. Next. To. Them.
The book 7 talks about excess in 7 different categories, I mentioned two already - spending and media, the others ones included clothes, waste, food, possessions, and stress. I think spending and media are my biggest pet peeves. Possessions and stress are close in second but I do have to say that Hubby and I have been very careful so far (hopefully it continues) about becoming over committed to outside activities, specifically the ones the kids do. It's western culture to give them all the opportunities one can afford (or put on credit) but it's not healthy for the family unit and we've been aware of that. We don't want to run a hundred different directions every day to makes sure they get to soccer practice, church program, ballet, cub scouts, 4-H, piano lessons, guitar lessons, football practice, swim lessons, etc. etc. We've limited their activities to at most 2 per season - and they both go to the church one so that's one direction for the entire family. I know that will probably increase somewhat as they get older but we're going to do the best we can to limit stress on our family and keep us together as much as possible. That's our job. As far as possessions - well, we can always do better, live on less and give away what we don't use. You should see the "garage sale/goodwill/give away" pile I have put together just in the course of reading this book. It's huge! The clothes category, which there is always room for improvement, is probably the least of our worries because no one in my family is that concerned with what's fashionable and I regularly go through my closet and get rid of stuff I haven't worn or doesn't fit. I shop second hand for as much as I possibly can for all of us and rarely pay retail price for anything clothing wise (aside from socks and unmentionables.)
When it comes to food and waste the Hatmaker family learned to eat responsibly, eat out less often, grow a garden, enjoy the wonderful food that can be grown at home, recycle almost everything, and other stuff but you'll just have to read it yourself. You will not be disappointed.
I would like to quote a favorite paragraph that just resonated with me, it's actually one paragraph in a small section of book that just spoke my heart:
"What would the early church think if they walked into some of our buildings today, looked through our church Web sites, talked to an average attender? Would they be so confused? Would they wonder why we all had empty bedrooms and uneaten food in our trash cans? Would they regard our hoarded wealth with shock? Would they observe orphan statistics with disbelief since Christians outnumber orphans 7 to 1? Would they be stunned most of us don't feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, or protect the widow? Would they see the spending on church buildings and ourselves as extravagantly wasteful while twenty-five thousand people die every day from starvation?"
Okay, I want to continue a bit, it is so right on . . .
"I think they'd barely recognize us as brothers and sisters. If we told them church is on Sundays and we have an awesome band, this would be perplexing. I believe we'd receive dumbfounded stares if we discussed "church shopping" because enough people don't say hello when we walk in the lobby one hour a week. If they found out one-sixth of the earth's population claimed to be Christians, I'm not sure they could reconcile the suffering happening on our watch while we're living in excess. They'd wonder if we had read the Bible or worry it had been tampered with since their time."
I want to quote more but I don't want to get into trouble either. Just go read it for yourselves, or not if you are happy to live as you are without being challenged and are content to think that American western culture is how God really wants us to live as lights.
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