Day 74: Rethinking the Christmas Budget

 The Confession: When Luke and I first started talking about a project like this, about reevaluating our status quo and seeking to let our lives better reflect our priorities, the first thing that grabbed my heart and filled me with panic was "but...but...but...what about Christmas?"

It's like part of me was saying "Okay God.  You can turn our lives upside down.  Change our hearts.  Convict us of our apathy.  Break our hearts with what breaks yours.  Show us your way, your truth, your life in a way we've never encountered before.  Just don't touch Christmas, capeesh?

Because, honestly, Lord, I kinda like celebrating Christmas my way."

But God is changing our hearts.

The Task: This year we are committing to give away to those in need, dollar for dollar, just as much as we spend on Christmas.

And since we aren't loaded stinkin' rich or using our credit cards, practically speaking that means that we have half as much as normal to spend on Christmas this year. 

The Why:  Where do I start?  Sometimes you need to do something because the very thought of it makes your mind and heart go to war.

Like when you're standing in the bathroom mirror, fiddling with your dreadlocks, saying "Half? Really? Could we do it? I mean...will we have enough? For presents? And a tree?  And a turkey?"

"...but presents are already a good charitable thing, right?  Surely Jesus doesn't want me to cut back on those."

"And the cute photo cards like last year.  Those are a must...aren't they?"

But I can't continue spending my life praying words like "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." and then ignoring his call to actually be His hands and feet, to bring His justice, His reconciliation, and His economy of love to a community in need.  I can't have one foot in God's radical backwards kingdom where the least is most and the poor is rich and the blind will see while having the other foot firmly planted at the local stuff-mart.

Scripturally, if we have more than we need it belongs to the poor. John the baptist instructed people who have two shirts to give one to the poor. (Luke 3:11) and Jesus tells a Pharisee to hold feasts, not for his friends and family, but for the poor and maimed who cannot repay his kindness. (Luke 14:12-14).  We're also told to give to anybody who asks us (Matthew 5:42) and to love our neighbour as ourselves. (Mathew 22:39) 

I'm not going to pretend to have these verses all figured out.  It is no easy calling.  But it seems pretty clear to me that Jesus wants bigger things for his people than shiny trinkets and obligatory sweater gifts.

The Verdict:  So we are saving for Christmas like we always do around this time of year.  From each paycheck, we add a few bucks to an envelope.  Only this year we do it knowing that half of it is going to our local homeless shelter.  And I have become really excited about this decision. 

The Dare:  Normally I tell people that this is our journey to simplicity and that we have no expectations that others will do what we do. We are sharing our lives, not asking you to change yours.  We don't expect you to get dreadlocks, or give up paper towels or to put your bed on the floor.   But tonight, if it's okay, I would like to dare some of you to make a similar commitment.  I trust you'll know if God is drawing your heart to that same place, even if part of you is running away screaming inside. 

In the words of Basil the great.  “When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”  

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 73: Not Killing the Herbs

The Task: To successfully (hopefully!) overwinter some herbs so that I can stop buying new ones every year.

The Confession:  My husband is the aspiring green thumb in the family. He does all the real gardening. I am responsible for the flower gardens (a.k.a overgrown weed beds), the culinary herbs, and the occasional houseplant that is given to us and inevitably dies from neglect.  I like to blame it on the fact that I am perpetually pregnant, tired and distracted...

The Why:  Okay...so here's the thing. So much of the problem in our crazy, hyper consumptive, would-need-five-planets-if-everyone-lived-like-a-North-American culture is that we don't have any, um....skills.

I mean, I'm a pretty domestic type gal.  I know how to make bread and raise chickens and sew. But I don't know how to darn socks or spin wool or make candles or not kill a rosemary plant over the winter.  I just buy a new rosemary plant in the spring. And sometimes half way through the summer....

But part of this challenge is to become producers as much as we are consumers.  And to raise our children to have skills so that they can consume less in a consumer world. 

The How: I was listening to a gardening show on the radio in the van the other day. (As in, Luke was listening and I was trying not to die of boredom) and the host mentioned herbs.  I immediately became interested, because I had just been thinking the other day that I should stop, you know, killing the herbs.  The radio show host told me three things I didn't know:

1. Put the herbs in clay pots.  I can do that!  Clay pots are cute!
2. Put them in a sunny window.  Not on a table near the sunny window, but actually on the window sill.  So I can't just move them around my kitchen to wherever I think they look nice that day and hope for the best?  Good to know.
3. And finally, don't water them until they are dry.  In the past my instinct has been to water them pretty much every time I remembered they existed, which, as they started to look dead was more and more often.  Now I know I've been over watering!

The Verdict: So far so good. I haven't committed plant murder yet, although it's still too early to tell.  I'm determined to make it through the winter with a live rosemary plant ready to go back in the soil come spring.  Wish me luck?

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 72: Sermon on the Mount Month!

It is the first day of October, and the first day of the October monthly challenge:  Sermon on the Mount month!  Are you in?

The Task:  Read Matthew chapters 5,6 & 7 every single day for a month.

The Why: I shared the why of this challenge when I announced it last week.  Basically, I believe that the Sermon on the Mount is radical and challenging, that God's economy of love and redistribution and reconciliation is powerful and relevant and...beautiful. I want the red letter words of Christ to shape me and change me.

The How:  I'm not a super disciplined person, so I need to make little rules for myself in order to make God's word the priority it ought to be.  Like not allowing myself to use facebook in the morning until after I've read the scripture passage.

Many of you have expressed that you will be joining the challenge.  Yay!   Please feel free to come back to this post throughout the month and share how the challenge is going, what you are noticing in God's word that you've always seemed to miss in the past, what you are struggling with or convicted of or inspired by. May the Spirit of God move boldly in each of us this month!

Day 69: Why the heck do I own so many vases?

So far on my 100 days of decluttering on facebook I have given away 8 vases.  Eight. And you know what?  A quick glance around my living room reveals at least 4 more.  I had no idea that I had a thing for vases.

And the weird part is that I don't even know where most of them came from.  Stuff just kinda shows up and moves in, right?

Before this journey began, I don't think I gave much thought to what I brought into my home. Sure, I discouraged my husband from bringing home mostly broken furniture he found at the dump, and I only bought things that I thought were sort of pretty (at the moment, anyways) but I didn't really think "Hey, Kelly, do you actually need 12 vases?"  Nope, I don't remember ever asking myself that.

But I don't need 12 vases.  In fact, truth be told, I don't really need any vases.  I could put flowers in a pitcher or a mason jar.  Mason jars are minimalist workhorses. They can hold flowers, or candles, or pens, or pickled beets....talk about a multitasker!

But I digress.  My point, I suppose, is that I  am realizing that I need to start asking more questions about the items I bring home. Like "Do I need this?"  "Do I already own something that could fulfill this purpose?" "If I was moving across country and only had a couple days to pack, would I pack this item?" 

"Is this item more valuable than the otherwise empty space it will take up?"  Because space is beautiful and empty surfaces are a beckoning to play and create and share ourselves with one another.

And the big one:  "Is there something more valuable my money could go towards?"   Like, you know, food for the hungry? Or a card for a neighbour who needs to know I'm thinking of them?  Or a couple Pumpkin Spice Lattes for me and a friend while the conversation oscillates casually between the trivial and the heart-cries in that way that can only happen over a hot drink with a good friend? 

I'm actually going to keep a couple vases.  There is nothing wrong with owning something pretty to plunk your flowers in.  But I'm going to stop buying vases.  And, more importantly, I'm going to ask a lot more questions of the stuff I bring home.  I'm going to be a better curator of our possessions, because rooms with less stuff have more room for people and life and laughter.

And I'm going to treat a good friend to a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Announcing The October Challenge: Sermon on the Mount Month

Each month we encourage you to join us in our pursuit of radical simplicity by doing one small thing with us for a whole month.

The October challenge is to read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6 & 7) every single day for 31 days.

Why?  This summer our church studied the Sermon on the Mount.  Our pastor encouraged us to read it every week all summer.  Although, truth be told, I didn't actually read it every single week, I did read it a lot.  And I was stuck by 2 things: First, that these passages are so very relevant to the journey that our family is on. If you want a manifesto for a simple, radical, authentic life you will find it in the Sermon on the Mount.  And secondly, that it never gets old.  There is so much in these chapters to change us and guide us and move our hearts that it never seems to get stale.

The timing is on purpose here.  By the end of October most of us will be thinking about the holidays.  Our pinterest boards will be filling up with ideas, our schedules will be filling up with events and parties and commitments, and what I want more than anything for our family this Christmas is that we would know what it is that Christ wants for his birthday.  That we would seek to give these red letter words their rightful authority in our lives.  That it would be more than advice or ancient wisdom, but the earth shattering truth of a God who was willing to love until it cost him everything this life can offer.

So, will you join me?  Starting next Monday, will you find the time to read these three chapters of Matthew every day for 31 days?

If so, feel free to use this banner to share the challenge on your own blog.  Just cut and paste the code below:

<a href="http://theyearofless.blogspot.com/2012/09/announcing-october-challenge-sermon-on.html"target="”_blank”"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pKzmZ4r56hw/UGH0V5CIFuI/AAAAAAAAENQ/ctopGCTJSHQ/s300/october%2520challenge%2520300px.png" /></a>

In unrelated news:  Our family is currently fighting off an illness, catching up on laundry and life after having weekend guests, and preparing for 31 days to Savour the Season  (my October blog series that starts on my other blog next week.) Plus, we have a new puppy!  Soooo....all that to say that posts might be a wee bit sparse this week while we are busy juggling life in general. Please be patient, I promise I haven't gone anywhere!