It's rare that you find me sitting down to blog after only 2 complete days in a month-long challenge. I'm usually still figuring out what I think about it and don't like to write until I'm sure of the direction the post will take, but this one is different. Even though I do still have some settling in to do, wrinkles to iron out, and ways to improve throughout the month, I already know what I hope to gain from this month's challenge... the 7 Sacred Pauses.
We all have lives that are so, so incredibly busy! I really can not for the life of me think of one person who doesn't keep their schedule full who is physically capable of it. You should have seen our calendar for last month. It really was a thing to behold! All summer long we wanted to take a vacation (I call it 'running away') and couldn't find the time. Adding a coming baby into the mix has me wanting a time away alone with DH even more and we've finally carved out 3 days we can manage to escape for the remainder of this year. Now to find a nice, quiet, secluded place within a single day's drive to hunker down in and ignore real life for awhile...
These pauses are intended to but a halt to all the hustle and bustle, 7 times a day. 7 times a day when my alarm goes off it reminds to stop, take a deep breath, get away from whatever job I was engaged in, and get back in touch with God. 7 times a day they interrupt the rhythm I have going and give me a chance to get in rhythm with what God is wanting to do with me instead. Sometimes it works... when I enter the moment with the right attitude of humility. Sometimes I blow it and fill the square. That's where I hope to see improvement throughout the month.
With only two days of this under my belt I've been amazed by two things.
1) It's incredible how quickly I can lose my poise after a good worship and prayer journaling session... literally the work of a couple of hours.
2) It's disturbing to realize how little I truly 'thought' of God's presence before now... Knew He was there, subconsciously, yes. But stopped to acknowledge Him and put forth the effort to commune with Him? No.
So on with this month of pausing in the hectic days, walking out on meetings with people to meet with God, setting aside physical labor to take on the labor of prayer, and growing in my love for meeting with God on a personal and moment-by-moment basis! I have everything to gain by this exercise and nothing but stress, fatigue, and irritability to lose.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
The Dismal Failure of Month 6
Friends... I've been very, very naughty with this month's challenge.
It wraps up today for me, as I was two weeks behind the Council due to some travels. So while they've been done with it, I've been plugging along, keeping track of my failures. Not even kidding, that's how this challenge has gone and I wasn't even expecting it to be that bad!
The goal was to cut my spending down to only 7 places for 4 weeks. For me those places were Sprouts, Aldi's, Atwoods, Bill Pay, Medical, the Sinclair on Highway 9, and my milk & egg lady. Everything I 'needed' would be in those 7 places, right?
Wrong.
I'm sitting tight at more than double that. And some of them have been repeat offenses. I'm horrible!
I will say that being on some type of restriction has actually stopped me from a couple of purchases. I had no idea how hard this one was going to be, honestly. I can put off any purchases for 4 weeks, surely. But really now... sales only last for few days! And end-of-season sales only last as long as the stock does. So those cute swimsuits that were 80% off? Yeah... they're long gone. *sigh*
This month has done a lot to open my eyes to how much '7' has not changed me. Part of it is seasonal and or situational... as summer wraps up and fall comes into sight I get an itch to update my wardrobe. Hello, Jessica? Do we need to revisit the 'Clothes Challenge'? Several of the occasions of spending in undesignated locations can be blamed on the little guy growing inside right now. I just couldn't make it home without a snack! Seriously... I've been contemplating revisiting the food month as soon as this crazy hectic fair season wraps up.
But at the center of those instances I noticed the greed within my own heart. I'm still accustomed to having what I want and sometimes calling those things needs. I'm still influenced by the advertisement campaigns that work so hard to tell me what my life is supposed to look like, what I am supposed to look like, and what sounds good to eat. I'm still struggling against this innate nature of consuming and collecting called materialism.
As I wrap up this month and move into the final challenge I'm going to have to carefully consider how to make this an ongoing thing. One month of one year of my life isn't going to cut it, and I need to not give up this fight thinking it will.
It wraps up today for me, as I was two weeks behind the Council due to some travels. So while they've been done with it, I've been plugging along, keeping track of my failures. Not even kidding, that's how this challenge has gone and I wasn't even expecting it to be that bad!
The goal was to cut my spending down to only 7 places for 4 weeks. For me those places were Sprouts, Aldi's, Atwoods, Bill Pay, Medical, the Sinclair on Highway 9, and my milk & egg lady. Everything I 'needed' would be in those 7 places, right?
Wrong.
I'm sitting tight at more than double that. And some of them have been repeat offenses. I'm horrible!
I will say that being on some type of restriction has actually stopped me from a couple of purchases. I had no idea how hard this one was going to be, honestly. I can put off any purchases for 4 weeks, surely. But really now... sales only last for few days! And end-of-season sales only last as long as the stock does. So those cute swimsuits that were 80% off? Yeah... they're long gone. *sigh*
This month has done a lot to open my eyes to how much '7' has not changed me. Part of it is seasonal and or situational... as summer wraps up and fall comes into sight I get an itch to update my wardrobe. Hello, Jessica? Do we need to revisit the 'Clothes Challenge'? Several of the occasions of spending in undesignated locations can be blamed on the little guy growing inside right now. I just couldn't make it home without a snack! Seriously... I've been contemplating revisiting the food month as soon as this crazy hectic fair season wraps up.
But at the center of those instances I noticed the greed within my own heart. I'm still accustomed to having what I want and sometimes calling those things needs. I'm still influenced by the advertisement campaigns that work so hard to tell me what my life is supposed to look like, what I am supposed to look like, and what sounds good to eat. I'm still struggling against this innate nature of consuming and collecting called materialism.
As I wrap up this month and move into the final challenge I'm going to have to carefully consider how to make this an ongoing thing. One month of one year of my life isn't going to cut it, and I need to not give up this fight thinking it will.
Friday, July 11, 2014
I'm Back! Well... Sort of
Is it indicative of the effectiveness of the media fast that
it’s taken me 3 weeks to post about it?
In a word… yes.
If you are someone who watches my page or eagerly awaits my next
status update, you’ve probably noticed that even though I’m ‘back’ I’m really
not all that ‘back’. Going into it, I was certain that 28 days wasn’t going to
be enough to break any old habits or start anything new but I was wrong. It
hasn’t been a conscious decision to refrain from posting in most cases. I
simply haven’t cared to take the time! Now, one thing that has crept back in is
fb browsing… you know, that meaningless activity of scrolling through endless
‘news’ updates from ‘friends’. Gonna have to do something about that again.
But I’ve had a couple people ask me to share how the fast
challenged me, so I’ve sat down to organize my thoughts and condense them into
a manageable post. So here come the bullet points and choppy sentences! Again,
I learned a lot about myself during this month and some of it wasn’t very
pretty…
- - I used social media to bolster my self-esteem.
Some time I need to write an entire series on self-esteem…
I’m convinced it’s an over-used and misunderstood concept that flies in the
face of biblical truth. However, for the sake of this post just understand it
in the way it’s always understood. Facebook audiences can be incredibly easy to
predict and even manipulate… If I wish to feel pretty I just need to pull out a
new picture (probably an old one, since I don’t get new ones very often) and
change my profile shot. Since it’s considered good friendship and practice to
encourage one another about our looks I can practically guarantee that I’ll get
several dozen ‘likes’ and even a couple of ‘comments’ to make me feel ‘pretty’.
The same can be said for quippy one-liners to make me feel ‘funny’ or deep
philosophical thoughts to make me feel ‘wise’.
- - I depended on music to ‘set the mood’.
You know how hard it is to clean a house to complete
silence? I’m sure I used to do it all the time but it must have been long ago. Now my normal routine is to choose my station according to what I
‘need’ in the moment… hip-hop if I’m unmotivated, praise if I’m either cheery
or facing temptation, instrumental when I just want something in the
background… Music influenced my emotions and thus influenced my results.
Without it I had to control those things on my own, with nothing but God’s power
to help me. (Yes, that was meant sarcastically!)
- - I didn’t really ‘miss’ browsing… but was
utterly bored without it.
Have you ever realized that you spend an exorbitant amount
of time doing something that has little to no value but you have little to no idea
how to spend it better? That was me during this fast. Deleting my social apps
off my phone left me with nothing to do in the car, in my down time, or while I
waited for the water to boil. In all honesty, I didn’t find a good alternative
in those weeks. I just came to the conclusion that I need a hobby… Still
working on that one.
-
- I missed sharing snippets of my life with
friends…
…But I often found myself sharing those moments with God,
literally talking to Him about the things that were happening in ways I might
have talked to my so-not-present ‘friends’. I’m not saying that it’s bad to
share life moments with friends and family… If it was really funny or important
I would call up my husband, sister, mom, or friend and tell them!... but it’s also not
bad to keep it to yourself. I’m under no obligation to put my life out there
for all to see. That’s something I had forgotten when it seems like all the
world is sharing everything on the Internet. There’s still something to be said
for privacy, believe it or not.
- Being 'In-the-Know' isn't necessarily a virtue
In this age of information, being non-informed is almost looked down upon as a sin. It like not knowing what's going on in the world is synonymous with apathy... the big no-no of today's Christian talking points. But is that really true? I went through 4 weeks of not having a clue what has happening in Israel, Washington D.C., or anywhere else unless I was personally told by another human being. Was I being apathetic about the problems around me during that time? I've though about those questions some and have come to these conclusions.
"Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
"So the, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin." James 4:17
It would seem that there are two major faults to be avoided... One is intentionally neglecting the knowledge of another person's (country's, people group's, etc...) need. The other is knowing about those needs and not responding to them. So as we fill our heads with the news of the day and feel good for being an 'informed citizen' we'd better stop and ask ourselves something. Is our knowledge puffing us up and getting in the way of our action? Perhaps we would be wise to focus on the news that will spur us into action instead of becoming paralyzed by the amount of need in the world and doing nothing.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Well... I'll See You All Later!
Television, E-mail, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, texting, the radio, iTunes, movies, Snapchat, blogs, news, advertisements, forums...
Guys, it's media month. And it starts tomorrow.
I am so dragging my feet on this one. I have this attitude of "This is going to S.T.I.N.K." and I need to stop it. My focus needs to shift from how much I'm going to miss social media and onto how much more I'll be able to learn new things, really talk with people, and hear from God. There is going to be an amazing, growing, freeing side of this month. For the first few weeks it will likely be overshadowed by the void created by eliminating some of the biggest distractions I dabble in on a moment-by-moment basis. Who knows... it might even take an extension of this month's challenge to see some real, lasting fruit. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :)
For now, I'm going to spend this afternoon saying good-bye to my 'friends' on Facebook (of whom I really only see a minute percentage...), delete apps (because if they're there I WILL click into them before I realize what I'm doing...), and listen to all the music I can stand. And I'm describing what this month will look like so you know what it's about and I can come back and remind myself what it's about.
My parents were always fairly strict when it came to media usage. I remember being limited to 30 minutes of screen time of any kind on a daily basis and some periods of only using electronics on the weekends. It fluctuated sometimes, but in general we didn't use it a lot. I didn't have a Facebook profile until I was eighteen and until then my computer time was generally used to write stories for my own enjoyment. With all that in consideration I step back and see how much I have been ensnared in the small space of 5 years.
I check Facebook multiple times a day... not out of duty but out of boredom. I Snapchat almost daily and Instagram as much, sometimes for the same reason but sometimes out of a need to share my world with people across the country. The television is on every day for several hours, sometimes being actively watched and sometimes just creating background noise. If I don't know something, Google is a ready and available resource without which it seems I can no longer live. How in the world did I find the nearest Sonic without you, smart phone and 3G?!
The results of this constant stimulation is described in the corresponding chapter in "7". It literally changes the way our minds work; we're restless, can't focus, and jump at the chance to change our trajectory when our phone dings with a notification. Besides this negative affect I see hints of another issue... the need for approval and affirmation from people I don't even really know. How am I going to make it an entire month with out a single 'like', 'share', or 'comment'? Where will I get my confidence when I can't even 'post' that witty one-liner I came up with all on my own? My already innate struggle with fear of man is fed by my ability to foster cheers from 744 people on an online profile whose knowledge of me, my personality, and my beliefs is 90% or more based only on what I post. More on both of those, I'm sure, in future posts.
But this month the status quo will be challenged. I am eliminating or severely minimizing 7 forms of media.
- Television
This will be entirely eliminated when I'm home alone, and avoided when Josh is home with me. He may still watch in the evenings, but unless I'm intentionally spending time with him in front of it I will spend that time either in another room working on something, reading, or outside.
- Internet
No browsing news pages, blogs, or recipe sights. I have newspapers, books, and cookbooks to keep me informed, enlightened, and fed well. I can access the internet to use my maps app when I'm out and about and as we continue to research adoption I will need to use it to learn what I need to learn.
-Social Media
All of it. Period. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Snapchat... Every app will be deleted tonight. The only posts my friends will see will be from external sources, either my Bible app or from this blog. And I will have no idea what they think of those posts.
- Radio
Really, that should read 'Music', because it's all going. No Pandora, no Air1, no iTunes. I will be driving in silence, exercising in silence, and cleaning in silence.
- Texting
All chit-chat texts will be eliminated... this is a business only month. If I want to chat I can call.
- Email
This is necessary at this time of year... I'm coordinating a campaign project and need to contact several people at once. But I'm checking it only once a day instead of every few hours. Nothing communicated by email is that important.
- Gaming
At first this seems like a non-issue. Yes, I have a few games on my phone but it's literally been months since I last opened them. BUT... with Facebook going bye-bye I see the potential for games to become a fall back. So they're banned before they get started.
So pretty much going cold turkey here... It will be interesting to see how I change. Pray for me. :)
Guys, it's media month. And it starts tomorrow.
I am so dragging my feet on this one. I have this attitude of "This is going to S.T.I.N.K." and I need to stop it. My focus needs to shift from how much I'm going to miss social media and onto how much more I'll be able to learn new things, really talk with people, and hear from God. There is going to be an amazing, growing, freeing side of this month. For the first few weeks it will likely be overshadowed by the void created by eliminating some of the biggest distractions I dabble in on a moment-by-moment basis. Who knows... it might even take an extension of this month's challenge to see some real, lasting fruit. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :)
For now, I'm going to spend this afternoon saying good-bye to my 'friends' on Facebook (of whom I really only see a minute percentage...), delete apps (because if they're there I WILL click into them before I realize what I'm doing...), and listen to all the music I can stand. And I'm describing what this month will look like so you know what it's about and I can come back and remind myself what it's about.
My parents were always fairly strict when it came to media usage. I remember being limited to 30 minutes of screen time of any kind on a daily basis and some periods of only using electronics on the weekends. It fluctuated sometimes, but in general we didn't use it a lot. I didn't have a Facebook profile until I was eighteen and until then my computer time was generally used to write stories for my own enjoyment. With all that in consideration I step back and see how much I have been ensnared in the small space of 5 years.
I check Facebook multiple times a day... not out of duty but out of boredom. I Snapchat almost daily and Instagram as much, sometimes for the same reason but sometimes out of a need to share my world with people across the country. The television is on every day for several hours, sometimes being actively watched and sometimes just creating background noise. If I don't know something, Google is a ready and available resource without which it seems I can no longer live. How in the world did I find the nearest Sonic without you, smart phone and 3G?!
The results of this constant stimulation is described in the corresponding chapter in "7". It literally changes the way our minds work; we're restless, can't focus, and jump at the chance to change our trajectory when our phone dings with a notification. Besides this negative affect I see hints of another issue... the need for approval and affirmation from people I don't even really know. How am I going to make it an entire month with out a single 'like', 'share', or 'comment'? Where will I get my confidence when I can't even 'post' that witty one-liner I came up with all on my own? My already innate struggle with fear of man is fed by my ability to foster cheers from 744 people on an online profile whose knowledge of me, my personality, and my beliefs is 90% or more based only on what I post. More on both of those, I'm sure, in future posts.
But this month the status quo will be challenged. I am eliminating or severely minimizing 7 forms of media.
- Television
This will be entirely eliminated when I'm home alone, and avoided when Josh is home with me. He may still watch in the evenings, but unless I'm intentionally spending time with him in front of it I will spend that time either in another room working on something, reading, or outside.
- Internet
No browsing news pages, blogs, or recipe sights. I have newspapers, books, and cookbooks to keep me informed, enlightened, and fed well. I can access the internet to use my maps app when I'm out and about and as we continue to research adoption I will need to use it to learn what I need to learn.
-Social Media
All of it. Period. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Snapchat... Every app will be deleted tonight. The only posts my friends will see will be from external sources, either my Bible app or from this blog. And I will have no idea what they think of those posts.
- Radio
Really, that should read 'Music', because it's all going. No Pandora, no Air1, no iTunes. I will be driving in silence, exercising in silence, and cleaning in silence.
- Texting
All chit-chat texts will be eliminated... this is a business only month. If I want to chat I can call.
This is necessary at this time of year... I'm coordinating a campaign project and need to contact several people at once. But I'm checking it only once a day instead of every few hours. Nothing communicated by email is that important.
- Gaming
At first this seems like a non-issue. Yes, I have a few games on my phone but it's literally been months since I last opened them. BUT... with Facebook going bye-bye I see the potential for games to become a fall back. So they're banned before they get started.
So pretty much going cold turkey here... It will be interesting to see how I change. Pray for me. :)
Friday, May 2, 2014
Opportunities Abound
As this month comes to an end (and I continue to purge my household...because I have to confess that I was so incredibly busy these past two weeks that I failed to complete the expected tally marks on my sheet of paper sitting by my pile of stuff!), the overwhelming lesson in it for me has been this.
There are opportunities out there.
I wrote last time about the Hope House shelter in Shawnee, OK where up to 12 kids at a time are placed when there are no foster care homes available for them. It is my hope to be able to write next time about our Council outing to one of a couple of locations in Oklahoma City helping with the homeless or inner city ministry. And this past Monday, Amy and I got to catch a glimpse into the heart of another ministry in Shawnee, Project:Safe.
My friends inspire me... I spent all morning and part of the afternoon at Amy's house working on formatting a cookbook. She's been collecting recipes and typing them out for I-don't-know-how-long so it can get printed and bound and given to the clients of our church's food pantry by the one year anniversary of the storms that changed our community forever. She'll poo-poo this post and say that it was nothing, but I know better. So this is your shout-out, Amy ;) I can't wait to see it on paper! My part of the project was to collect some of the stories that demonstrated God's incredible provision for the work He was doing in the storm's aftermath; talk about a humbling and invigorating experience! Our God is ALIVE, my friends! If anyone would like me to send along those stories just let me know! It will build your faith.
After a late lunch, we headed toward town to visit this Project:Safe we had heard about. Honestly, we had tried to kill two birds with one stone and run by it when we were in town visiting Hope House but we had been unable to find it. But a few days later I had happened upon it as I drove through town, saw the sign, and did a 'U' to go back and see what their hours were. Now we were back, and the young woman who came out to help us unload gave us some wonderful insight into the mission and the heart behind the work being done there.
Project:Safe is a battered women's shelter that seeks to provide everything a woman might need when she flees from an abusive situation. They have beds for 15, some in a family room setup and some grouped for singles to use. They feed them all and have someone there at the shelter 24/7 to be available for emotional support, help with children, or whatever else might be needed by the women. Obviously, it's in a confidential location... where Amy and I visited was the office and what they hope will help to fund the operation - a thrift store. The things we brought that day went straight into the inventory of the shop, which is currently only being opened on an occasional weekend due to it's newness, lack of volunteer help, and disorganization. Right now it's like a giant garage sale, but they hope to get it set up and operating on a regular store hours basis. When they do, they hope to be able to run it solely on volunteer power... just like they do everything else. Funding is never a sure-thing; most of it comes in the form of grants that are never guaranteed to be renewed, so having support in a self-sustaining form would be a weight off their minds. When we asked what we might be able to do to help them there were two responses.
The first was volunteering, of course, especially for when the store was up and running regularly. But even before then there is the opportunity to take part in getting the store to that place. And there are other things that, she said, the volunteer coordinator could tell us more about.
The second was donations. Big ticket items are always the first things to go when the store is open, things like furniture, bedding, and small appliances. Money, of course, is always helpful. But the thing that I wasn't expecting to hear was food. "Maybe do a food drive," she suggested. "That would be a big help." Cooking for fifteen women at a time can take a lot, she said. And she pointed out that many of the women they are helping were coming out of living conditions where they may or may not have been allowed food, or had been belittled or abused for eating. The freedom to eat could make them eat like it was the last time they had the chance. Sometimes you don't really know what people need until you ask. There's a little sub-lesson within the bigger one... Just ask what people need!
These community outreaches, plus the church's, plus the two we're tossing around working together on this next month just goes to show... opportunities are out there. I have to admit that when I was reading this chapter from Jen's perspective I was a tad underwhelmed. She lives in Austin, for crying out loud! Of course she has abundant outlets for service and donations! And where am I? Tribby, Oklahoma... And yet two of our discovered ministries are located in Shawnee, which is the nearest 'real' town to me. The city isn't far and my own church has a food pantry.
The truth of the matter is, there's work out there to do and places to do it if you're really interested. But it's not likely to come and stand right in front of you waiving bright flags in your face to get your attention. I never would have noticed Project:Safe's sign if I hadn't just spent 20 minutes wondering through downtown Shawnee looking for it! If you're busy complaining that there's not a good place to volunteer or get involved... may I make a suggestion?
It's time to stop complaining and start searching.
Because opportunities abound!
There are opportunities out there.
I wrote last time about the Hope House shelter in Shawnee, OK where up to 12 kids at a time are placed when there are no foster care homes available for them. It is my hope to be able to write next time about our Council outing to one of a couple of locations in Oklahoma City helping with the homeless or inner city ministry. And this past Monday, Amy and I got to catch a glimpse into the heart of another ministry in Shawnee, Project:Safe.
My friends inspire me... I spent all morning and part of the afternoon at Amy's house working on formatting a cookbook. She's been collecting recipes and typing them out for I-don't-know-how-long so it can get printed and bound and given to the clients of our church's food pantry by the one year anniversary of the storms that changed our community forever. She'll poo-poo this post and say that it was nothing, but I know better. So this is your shout-out, Amy ;) I can't wait to see it on paper! My part of the project was to collect some of the stories that demonstrated God's incredible provision for the work He was doing in the storm's aftermath; talk about a humbling and invigorating experience! Our God is ALIVE, my friends! If anyone would like me to send along those stories just let me know! It will build your faith.
After a late lunch, we headed toward town to visit this Project:Safe we had heard about. Honestly, we had tried to kill two birds with one stone and run by it when we were in town visiting Hope House but we had been unable to find it. But a few days later I had happened upon it as I drove through town, saw the sign, and did a 'U' to go back and see what their hours were. Now we were back, and the young woman who came out to help us unload gave us some wonderful insight into the mission and the heart behind the work being done there.
Project:Safe is a battered women's shelter that seeks to provide everything a woman might need when she flees from an abusive situation. They have beds for 15, some in a family room setup and some grouped for singles to use. They feed them all and have someone there at the shelter 24/7 to be available for emotional support, help with children, or whatever else might be needed by the women. Obviously, it's in a confidential location... where Amy and I visited was the office and what they hope will help to fund the operation - a thrift store. The things we brought that day went straight into the inventory of the shop, which is currently only being opened on an occasional weekend due to it's newness, lack of volunteer help, and disorganization. Right now it's like a giant garage sale, but they hope to get it set up and operating on a regular store hours basis. When they do, they hope to be able to run it solely on volunteer power... just like they do everything else. Funding is never a sure-thing; most of it comes in the form of grants that are never guaranteed to be renewed, so having support in a self-sustaining form would be a weight off their minds. When we asked what we might be able to do to help them there were two responses.
The first was volunteering, of course, especially for when the store was up and running regularly. But even before then there is the opportunity to take part in getting the store to that place. And there are other things that, she said, the volunteer coordinator could tell us more about.
The second was donations. Big ticket items are always the first things to go when the store is open, things like furniture, bedding, and small appliances. Money, of course, is always helpful. But the thing that I wasn't expecting to hear was food. "Maybe do a food drive," she suggested. "That would be a big help." Cooking for fifteen women at a time can take a lot, she said. And she pointed out that many of the women they are helping were coming out of living conditions where they may or may not have been allowed food, or had been belittled or abused for eating. The freedom to eat could make them eat like it was the last time they had the chance. Sometimes you don't really know what people need until you ask. There's a little sub-lesson within the bigger one... Just ask what people need!
These community outreaches, plus the church's, plus the two we're tossing around working together on this next month just goes to show... opportunities are out there. I have to admit that when I was reading this chapter from Jen's perspective I was a tad underwhelmed. She lives in Austin, for crying out loud! Of course she has abundant outlets for service and donations! And where am I? Tribby, Oklahoma... And yet two of our discovered ministries are located in Shawnee, which is the nearest 'real' town to me. The city isn't far and my own church has a food pantry.
The truth of the matter is, there's work out there to do and places to do it if you're really interested. But it's not likely to come and stand right in front of you waiving bright flags in your face to get your attention. I never would have noticed Project:Safe's sign if I hadn't just spent 20 minutes wondering through downtown Shawnee looking for it! If you're busy complaining that there's not a good place to volunteer or get involved... may I make a suggestion?
It's time to stop complaining and start searching.
Because opportunities abound!
Monday, April 21, 2014
The Messy Side of Giving
I think I've learned something else about myself in these past two challenges that is just now registering.
I don't like writing until I have a cohesive thought with a logical conclusion on which to end.
Unfortunately, I haven't been having a lot of those recently. My thought process has been quite jumbled, and since I don't really think anyone would find it interesting to hear what I 'did' today versus what I 'thought' I end up just not writing. It's not fun to sit down and try to convey your convictions to the world when you've had little more than general convictions that have led to specific questions the answers to which you have yet to discover.
That's how I've felt lately... everything I do, every purchase I make, every plan I set in stone is suspect to my own conscience. One difficulty lies in feeling like it's a good thing to care for what I've been given (i.e. spending money at Lowe's to buy tools for upkeep and improvement) but knowing that many others are slapping mud on their walls to fill cracks. Another one is found in wanting to please and 'bless' people I love with things that involve monetary spending (i.e. buying birthday presents or spending money on doing fun things together) but mentally recognizing how much could be done with that same amount if given to a third-world family. It's probably a good thing, but I'm not necessarily liking it yet... And 'yet' is likely an unnecessary word, since I doubt that conviction is every a comfortable experience. I automatically go to the word 'balance' to give myself a goal... but at the same time I'm struggling with the idea that balance might not be a biblical principal.
So I have no answers! :) I'm still wrestling with all of this, and these first couple of weeks in Month 3 have felt like nothing more than Spring Cleaning up to this point. That is, however, about to change. In fact, the change has already started. This morning Amy and I, along with two of her girls, rode into town together (thank you, truck, for deciding not to start for me...) to drop some donations at the Hope House in Shawnee. Unfortunately, we didn't get to take a tour at the time. But the director who received our items was able to tell us a little about it and what the needs were.
The Hope House is a residential setting shelter for children in the foster care system waiting for foster homes to open up a place for them. There is a sever shortage of foster care homes in comparison to the amount of kids in the foster care needing a place to stay. So all of those kids that need a home but don't have one get to go stay in a residential center with about 10 other kids for possibly months at a time before being placed, or re-placed, in a foster or adoptive home.
In all honesty, 'stuff' was not really what they needed. Oh, there were some items that we had that he accepted. But he was glad that we had actually asked him to reject what they wouldn't use so he didn't have to sort it all and find another place to pass things too! No, what they really hurt for is people. They need personnel to work at the center while not expecting to make buckets of money (shortfalls in the state budget leads to budget cuts for them which leads to pay cuts for workers). They need people to sign up for foster care so fewer kids have to live in these homes. The need people to adopt so kids can have a forever home.
We have several other places we intend to visit this week and the entire Council is trying to find a time to join my sister's co-worker on his weekly visits to a downtown OKC bridge. It's this part of the month that I am most excited about... there is nothing emotionally moving about cleaning out my crowded cabinets and getting rid of my piles of excess. But I am anticipating a time of new growth as I get out of my comfort zone in these new places and learn about other needs... exploring the messy side of giving where you actually meet a need face-to-face, outside the walls of a clean, tidy church or organization, in the middle of another person's reality.
I don't like writing until I have a cohesive thought with a logical conclusion on which to end.
Unfortunately, I haven't been having a lot of those recently. My thought process has been quite jumbled, and since I don't really think anyone would find it interesting to hear what I 'did' today versus what I 'thought' I end up just not writing. It's not fun to sit down and try to convey your convictions to the world when you've had little more than general convictions that have led to specific questions the answers to which you have yet to discover.
That's how I've felt lately... everything I do, every purchase I make, every plan I set in stone is suspect to my own conscience. One difficulty lies in feeling like it's a good thing to care for what I've been given (i.e. spending money at Lowe's to buy tools for upkeep and improvement) but knowing that many others are slapping mud on their walls to fill cracks. Another one is found in wanting to please and 'bless' people I love with things that involve monetary spending (i.e. buying birthday presents or spending money on doing fun things together) but mentally recognizing how much could be done with that same amount if given to a third-world family. It's probably a good thing, but I'm not necessarily liking it yet... And 'yet' is likely an unnecessary word, since I doubt that conviction is every a comfortable experience. I automatically go to the word 'balance' to give myself a goal... but at the same time I'm struggling with the idea that balance might not be a biblical principal.
So I have no answers! :) I'm still wrestling with all of this, and these first couple of weeks in Month 3 have felt like nothing more than Spring Cleaning up to this point. That is, however, about to change. In fact, the change has already started. This morning Amy and I, along with two of her girls, rode into town together (thank you, truck, for deciding not to start for me...) to drop some donations at the Hope House in Shawnee. Unfortunately, we didn't get to take a tour at the time. But the director who received our items was able to tell us a little about it and what the needs were.
The Hope House is a residential setting shelter for children in the foster care system waiting for foster homes to open up a place for them. There is a sever shortage of foster care homes in comparison to the amount of kids in the foster care needing a place to stay. So all of those kids that need a home but don't have one get to go stay in a residential center with about 10 other kids for possibly months at a time before being placed, or re-placed, in a foster or adoptive home.
In all honesty, 'stuff' was not really what they needed. Oh, there were some items that we had that he accepted. But he was glad that we had actually asked him to reject what they wouldn't use so he didn't have to sort it all and find another place to pass things too! No, what they really hurt for is people. They need personnel to work at the center while not expecting to make buckets of money (shortfalls in the state budget leads to budget cuts for them which leads to pay cuts for workers). They need people to sign up for foster care so fewer kids have to live in these homes. The need people to adopt so kids can have a forever home.
We have several other places we intend to visit this week and the entire Council is trying to find a time to join my sister's co-worker on his weekly visits to a downtown OKC bridge. It's this part of the month that I am most excited about... there is nothing emotionally moving about cleaning out my crowded cabinets and getting rid of my piles of excess. But I am anticipating a time of new growth as I get out of my comfort zone in these new places and learn about other needs... exploring the messy side of giving where you actually meet a need face-to-face, outside the walls of a clean, tidy church or organization, in the middle of another person's reality.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Month 3: Possessions
I just realized how poorly I kept up with posting during Month 2... and I was so on top of it in Month 1! Really though, as expected, the clothes challenge wasn't nearly as big of a deal as the food was. Apparently I care more about what I eat than what I wear. Still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not... I DID, however, notice that by the end of the month, while I was still enjoying the simplicity involved in knowing exactly what I was going to wear before going to bed each night, I was also starting to feel a little frumpy. After a month of wear mystery stains were starting to pop up on my shirt and my shoes were getting dirtier and dirtier. It didn't exactly get to my self-esteem, per say, it just had me ready for the month to end.
Yesterday was the first day of wardrobe freedom and my clothes count skyrocketed. I woke up and got into my old favorite pair of jeans (I didn't choose those because they're not fit for public wear... stains of many colors and a non-fashion-inspired hole testify to the love I have for those jeans). Slipped into a new shirt, (yes... I did the unthinkable and actually got new clothes DURING this clothes challenge... but in my defense I spent literally next to nothing on them. Thank you for that mailer, JCPenny, I absolutely love $10 off $10 or more coupons!) and back into my favorite pair of shoes. After getting home from running some errands I changed into running shorts, a tank top, and tennis shoes. Then after a run and the temperature starting to drop I switched back into jeans and changed my shoes out for boots. I told you at the beginning that this is normal for me! ;)
But all that is behind me and the daily purge of this month's challenge is before me. The title of this post was probably pretty indicative of what the focus is for the next 4 weeks.
Stuff.
We all know we have too much of it. Some of us have storage containers rented out to hold the things we can't find a place for in our homes. Others of us have out buildings of our own to store the extra in. Most of us have at least several cabinets and closets full to overflowing. Every once in awhile we will all stand in the middle of a messy house and wonder where in the world it all came from. And then, (at least if you're me) we will go hit another garage sale, just because we can or we may miss out on a great deal for something we don't really need.
This month's challenge is two-fold for me. The first is getting rid of 7 items every day for an entire month. I expect the first two weeks to be pure bliss... I really do love to get rid of stuff I don't use or really like. Just ask my dad... I don't hang on to things. Much to his chagrin, if it doesn't get used or contribute in some way to my happiness then it either goes in the trash or the Goodwill pile. Yes, even if it was, at one time, given me by a family member. Hey, what they don't know won't hurt them, right? About the only things I've held on to for sentimental reasons are correspondences and accomplishments. Letters I keep and certificates I keep. Both are small and easy to stash away. I just don't connect people or memories to inanimate objects. *shrug* So with that in mind, I'm sure I will love minimizing the stuff I've accumulated over the years and getting rid of the piles that have slowly formed.
The last two weeks, however, could get tough. Because I don't keep things, I'm expecting to run out of things that I actually WANT to get rid of before I reach the end of this month. Which leads to getting rid of things I want to keep. Which will be a sacrifice. Which is kind of what this whole season of my life is about. Which I'm still not sure I'm going to like.
Anyways...
Since the point of this isn't just to Christianize a normal spring cleaning, we're supposed to abstain from simply dumping our rejects at the back door of the local thrift store where people like me go looking for a good deal. This is where the challenge and the beauty meet... We are challenged to actually find people who need these things we have to give and bless them, face-to-face. Passing it off to friends isn't acceptable. As Jen puts it, we need to stop focusing on blessing the blessed. Why give our stuff to people who already have too much stuff? No, that 2-piece business suit that I just put into my pile might fit my friend perfectly... but that girl in frumpy sweats and t-shirt on the side of the road with a cardboard sign? A good business suit might be exactly what she needs to be presentable enough to go have that job interview. Those shoes in my pile might look cute on my sister, or mom, or neighbor... but that barefoot woman walking back to her children under the bridge just passed her shoes off to her oldest daughter because hers finally fell apart. She is the one who truly needs them.
Over the next few days I am going to be looking into how we can best contact the people who truly need what we will all be getting rid of this month. I'm excited and daunted by the task ahead of us... I expect this month could be one of the most life changing ones in the whole series, simply because it will, Lord willing, put us in the presence of those with the greatest of needs. May the Lord use us in ways we aren't even imagining right now and open up a whole new world in the process!
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