The Challenge of 7

   This week as I labored hard at taking down all of the Christmas decorations, reclaiming my kitchen and finding places for all the new "toys" I was completely overwhelmed at the amount of stuff we as a family have. Yes, there are 7 people in our family and I know that 7 people require lots of stuff, but it begs the question "when does a lot of stuff become way to much stuff?"

   Most people that know me well, know that I am pretty simple. My home is not lavishly decorated, (I can actually count on one hand the number of pictures hanging on my wall), I am not a fashionista, (my mom would sometimes threaten me with "shopping" when I was a kid and I still feel the same way about shopping) and I rarely purchase things for my kids (with the exception of birthdays and holidays). So this begs a second question, "where does all the stuff come from?" Its like our stuff has this ability to grow and reproduce until it consumes our homes, our lives and our time. And maybe its just me, but I have noticed lately that our stuff eventually consumes our local Salvation Armies and giveaway houses so much so that they throw out our stuff by the dumpster full.

   And this is exactly where I found myself this week. Shaking my head and feeling a deep need for a purge. As luck or the Lord would have it, I just happened to jump on Amazon and search for a book that I had been wanting to read since last summer. "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess"by Jen Hatmaker. It was there, and the best part was that Amazon was offering the Kindle version for only $3.49! Whooo! My heart skipped a beat as I pushed the purchase button and yes bought one more thing!

If you have not yet read this book, I highly recommend it. Here is a description in a nutshell.

"American life can be excessive, to say the least. That's what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family's upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called "rich" by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born. 

7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseased of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits and observe "seven sacred pauses." So, what's the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It's the discovery of a greatly increased God- a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence."


   Awesome! Right? or maybe a little borderline crazy. But I am always up for a something new that will help challenge my thinking, and challenge my "norm." So for the next 7ish months I have decided to tackle the challenge of 7.  Starting Sunday January 12 I will begin the clothing challenge! Stay tuned for more posts on how I'm faring :)

http://www.amazon.com/7-Experimental-Mutiny-Against-Excess-ebook