Well, here it is!

I told you I’d try and post more often. And here I am!

So, what’s new? Well… lots of stuff has happened. Good stuff, i think… for the most part.  I’m sure you’ve kept up with the details through Jim’s blog. Recently we had some friends take us (Jim & I)  out for coffee and basically (I’m summarizing a 2 hour coversation here) tell us that we are squandering our God-given gifts and abilities and that we should be on staff at a church… and their new church, in particular. While I appreciated their thoughts and kind words, I have to respectfully disagree… totally and completely.  And that’s okay.

Probably the thing that is getting most of my thinking recently is this idea of “sustainable living”. That is a term that I didn’t even know a couple years ago. Now, it’s my goal in life.  I believe it’s what Father asks of all of us. The idea of “living simply so that others may simply live”; the idea that we here in North America, no matter how poor we claim to be, we are so wealthy!! We are the”rich” that God says will be held accountable for oppressing and exploiting the poor (with our trade practices, consumeristic lifestyles…). This is SO all-encompassing… it affects everything… what we wear, what we buy, what we eat, where it’s grown, how the people who grow it (or manufacture it) are treated and compensated…. “You mean I really have to care about all that??” I think that’s what God is asking of us.

One of hte biggest ways we are trying to adopt a sustainable lifestyle is concentrating on the “3-R’s”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Lots of people are thinking more about recycling these days and many people who didn’t recycle have started to do it (Yea Heather!!)  That’s great. And it all helps. God has really asked our family to concentrate on the first 2 “R’s”… reducing what we consume is the first step in sustainable living. This has involved taking a real, honest inventory of our needs and wants. It is truly shocking how little we actually NEED to survive. Now, I’m not saying that we have done away with all our “wants”… we are just trying to bring them more in line with what Jesus would want us to want… does that make sense? Well, I hope so because I’m out of time for now.

~ by syndie on August 8, 2007.