So I told you that my friend in Texas asked me if we were going to do any of the "giving ups" like Jen Hatmaker and her family did as she was writing the book 7.
So, what would be the point anyway?
For me the main take away from what Jen was getting at in her book about why experiment with giving things up is to disrupt our routine, to make room in our lives for us to actually think instead of being on automatic pilot, to allow room and headspace for God to speak to us about whatever he wants to.
Here is a quote from Jen herself:
“If a fast doesn't include any sacrifices, then it's not a fast. The discomfort is where the magic happens. Life zips along, unchecked and automatic. We default to our lifestyles, enjoying our privileges tra la la, but a fast interrupts that rote trajectory. Jesus gets a fresh platform in the empty space where indulgence resided.”
So beginning August 20th and continuing through September 19th, our friends in Texas and we had "clothes month".
We each had our own way of going about it and that was good. The point is not to follow some sort of regimen prescribed by someone else but the point is to allow yourself to step out of your normal and leave room for God to speak and to just explore change.
For our family 7 clothes month looked like narrowing down Adrian, David's and my wardrobes to 7 outfits. 7 tops, 7 bottoms, the occasional layering piece if it was part of the "outfit". No accessories or jewelry for me though (the guys plainly don't wear accessories to begin with). :)
7 pair of undies, 7 things in the pj drawer, 7 pair of socks. I narrowed myself down to four pair of shoes.
I will say here that there is nothing especially magical about 7 of everything. It is mostly just a number to have a number. Does that make any sense? Not too big, not too small . . .
So here is my sock drawer before I narrowed it down to 7 pair. Now granted, it was still flip flop weather and I didn't even wear all 7 of my chosen pairs during our clothing month but still there is a big difference between 7 pairs of socks and this!!
I guess I have a thing for socks. I really like these socks. But seriously, I didn't count how many pairs I have but there are easily more than 30 meaning even in the winter months when I wear socks daily, I have more socks than I can wear in a month if I wear a different pair every day! And the truth is if my smartwools are clean I do gravitate toward them. Oh and of course this is not counting my Christmas socks which get pulled out at the beginning of December.
hmmmm . . . .
So the advantages of just having less socks would be:
1. not having to shove the clean ones in and barely shut the drawer when putting away the laundry
2. I can see what I actually have
3. I could give some of these socks away to people who really could use them
4. I could have less socks to let pile up and then have to match and fold (probably my least favorite part of doing laundry)
more to come tomorrow . . .
in the meantime, here are two more bloggers who have linked up to The Nester's 31 day challenge who are writing on topics that I feel kind of go along with what I am pondering here
Check them out:
and
2 comments:
Preach it.
Getting more uncomfortable and convicted at the same time.
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