Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do or Do Without-Day One

Happy Spirit Sunday and Happy New Challenge Friends!

“Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’” (Luke 12:22-26, NIV).

True confession time.  I always found this verse weird and slightly annoying.  The fundamental idea is clear to me.  There are more important things to worry about than food and clothing and living an excessive life is bad.  But where are the basics supposed to come from?  Were we blessed with money in the bank so we could go and purchase our daily necessities?  Then what about people who have nothing?  How can you tell them not to worry and to think about birds?  As a kid, when I'd hear this verse, I always pictured God as the morning milk man on his morning route dropping off your daily food and sweaters and lipstick on your front porch.

I have some extended family who embraced this verse to the fullest and wanted to simply their lives in order to better focus on their faith & family.  Both adults are college educated and live in a small town in the mid-west.  He quit his office job and became a manger at a local grocery store, she is the church organist but spends her time raising and homeschooling their 3 kids, they moved into a small apartment so they wouldn't have to worry about maintaining or furnishing a large home, and they get a lot of their extra produce from the small family farm down the road.

While find this act very noble and as much as I talk the talk of living a more simplified existence and dream of an easier life I'm not sure if I can commit to it. I'm sitting here getting geared up for 10 days of simple living and I have a catalog lying next to me with post-its marking pages of things that I want to buy.  I don't NEED a new fall jacket because I have one already but it's a little worn.  I don't NEED a new navy dress but it would be fun to own and wear out.  I'm selling AVON now and loving it and love ordering products but do I really NEED them?  Again, I understand the fundamentals of what Jesus is saying but did God leave room for us to treat ourselves?  For some pampering?  Am I a bad person because I don't live like Mother Theresa? 

The Germans have a great word-JEIN-which means yes/no (ja/nein).  The answer is probably all sorts of shades of gray.  A friend told me this week, a great thing about the Lutheran faith (or any spiritual practice for that matter) is that we are allowed to wrestle and argue with God.  These little spiritual debates make us more stronger in self in the end. 

For me personally, I do believe that I am a person living in excess in a world where the standard is a life of excess & greed and I believe that we are starting to see the effects that it is having on a global scale.  I also believe that we will see class warfare in our lifetime unless something changes in a drastic way.  This all sounds very doom and gloom and as a Mother is sets my heart racing.  But, you know I'm a big optimist and believer in the power of hope.  A life without hope (and a little color and glitter) isn't a life worth living!  It's great to want to change the world but change also has to happen within and I am certainly due for some soul 'housekeeping'.  I'm a little bit like Martha (from the bible, not Stewart) in that way.  Sure, Mary listened to Jesus but what about the casserole?  How can you hear the good news on an empty stomach and in a dirty house?  Ha!  For the next 10 days we are going to focus on little areas to make our live just a little bit simpler.  My gut feeling is that this could possibly become a bigger challenge for 2012.  It's in the cooker.......

Cheers Dear Friends!