So, my daughter Jennifer's youth group has been doing a scaled-down version of a radical series of "fasting" based on Jen Hatmaker's book, titled simply, 7. The parents have been invited to participate in support of the kids, so Brian and I have done what we can to come alongside Jennifer in this process. The big-picture focus of the book is to encourage us to push back on excess - to eliminate specific things for a time, and to make more room to hear God speak to us.
The first two weeks, we had to choose only seven items of food, and eat only that. If you're curious, Jennifer and I chose the same five of seven items - chicken, eggs, peanuts, spinach,wheat bread. Jennifer chose tangerines and dark chocolate as her other two. I went with cheese and red wine. I could write more about this experience, but I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole...
Next, for two weeks, we chose seven items of clothing to wear. Not too hard for me, as I normally dress like a slob. The third phase was eliminating seven kinds of media or technology for a week. A week off Facebook for me felt like an eternity. But again, I don't want to digress...
This week, it's trying to go "greener", to reduce waste.
I'm learning something very unexpected from this week on "waste". And it's so big that I want to put it here, in my blog. Maybe if I see it enough, I'll finally remember this stuff. It's BIG.
I already do a lot of the things recommended in the book, just as a matter of course. We recycle. We compost. We freeze fruit that's not fresh enough to eat and use it in smoothies. As I'm writing this, I'm eating chicken soup I made from the frozen-then-thawed carcass of a chicken I cooked (so as not to waste the bones), and I'm munching tortilla chips left over from Jennifer's lunch at LBJ on Sunday with leftover salsa from another take-out trip. I got up and walked to the bathroom to get the water glass I used this morning so I wouldn't dirty another one. I wash out Ziploc bags and re-use them. Really. So I have this "waste" thing nailed. Or do I?
The first two weeks, we had to choose only seven items of food, and eat only that. If you're curious, Jennifer and I chose the same five of seven items - chicken, eggs, peanuts, spinach,wheat bread. Jennifer chose tangerines and dark chocolate as her other two. I went with cheese and red wine. I could write more about this experience, but I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole...
Next, for two weeks, we chose seven items of clothing to wear. Not too hard for me, as I normally dress like a slob. The third phase was eliminating seven kinds of media or technology for a week. A week off Facebook for me felt like an eternity. But again, I don't want to digress...
This week, it's trying to go "greener", to reduce waste.
I'm learning something very unexpected from this week on "waste". And it's so big that I want to put it here, in my blog. Maybe if I see it enough, I'll finally remember this stuff. It's BIG.
I already do a lot of the things recommended in the book, just as a matter of course. We recycle. We compost. We freeze fruit that's not fresh enough to eat and use it in smoothies. As I'm writing this, I'm eating chicken soup I made from the frozen-then-thawed carcass of a chicken I cooked (so as not to waste the bones), and I'm munching tortilla chips left over from Jennifer's lunch at LBJ on Sunday with leftover salsa from another take-out trip. I got up and walked to the bathroom to get the water glass I used this morning so I wouldn't dirty another one. I wash out Ziploc bags and re-use them. Really. So I have this "waste" thing nailed. Or do I?
I've realized two really big things this week. One is that, no matter how much I TRY to be super economical and a non-waster and a good steward, if I'm doing it in my own strength, I fail. Or I fall super short. Again and again this week, in out-of-the-ordinary ways, I've sort of been forced to waste things I wouldn't normally dream of wasting. When watching and feeding baby Lola, food gets wasted. Jennifer and I ran into some circumstances that led to extra driving we hadn't intended to do this week. I found some stuff in the fridge that I'd intended to use, but it's now past its date and I had to toss it. It's been really frustrating, because it is happening during a week when we're supposed to be intentional about NOT wasting.
I know God well enough to know that none of this is coincidental. And as I'm praying about it, God is showing me that it's sort of a metaphor for trying to do, well, ANYTHING, on my own strength and not through Christ who strengthens me. No matter what our intentions may be, without Christ, our efforts are, as Paul says, like filthy rags.
The second thing I'm seeing is that, especially on the heels of a week where we eliminated media and distractions to make more room for God, I am a HUGE waster of time. Last week, I was especially connected to God, more or less by default. In my silent car and morning walks, there were multiple times where I'd literally smile and say, "Oh. Hi, God!" I took many, many more occasions to check in with the Lord, because I had so many fewer screens in my face.
This week, I"m finding myself almost immediately back to "normal" -- totally distracted by screens, social media, radio, podcasts, even Bible reading and Bible study -- but taking way less of those "Oh. Hi, God" moments. I've been cranky and snappish as a result. Just ask Jennifer...
So what I'm learning (or, RE-learning) from this week of waste that I hope the rest of you, dear readers, aren't STILL trying to learn when YOU'RE 52, is that WE HAVE TO BE SO INTENTIONAL about leaning in to God. We have to try, very hard, to make space and time to be with the Lord. But more than that, we have to be intentional about ASKING GOD to help us do just that. The Bible says in 1 John 5:14-15 - "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him." And we know from Jesus that the most important commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27). So if it's God's will that we do this, you better believe that if we ask Him to help us love Him and devote ourselves more fully to Him, HE WILL!!!
So be intentional! Lean in! Ask for His help! If you guys all get this NOW, instead of wasting the next 30 years or so on life's distractions, you can move mountains in this world - through Christ who strengthens you!!!
