7 - notes

7 -an experimental mutiny against excess - Jen Hatmaker is proving to be a good book during Lent and an enjoyable one at that.  I like books that are written like a conversation. 

Jenn and her family spent basically  a year focusing on their excess.  They addressed one source of excess a month.  They boiled their excess down to: food, clothes, spending, media, possessions, waste, and stress.  The journey: for one month they would only eat 7 foods, only wear 7 articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places, eliminate use of seven media types, give away 7 things each day, adopt seven green habits, and observe "seven sacred pauses". 

It's the discovery of a greatly increased God-a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends a social experiment to become a radically better existence.

"I'm doing this for a reason.  This is a fast, a major reduction of the endless possibilities...It's suppose to be uncomfortable and inconvenient.  Not because I'm a narcissist but because the discomfort creates space for the Holy Spirit to move.  This shake-up of my routine commands my attention.  I can no longer default to normal, usual, mindless, thoughtless.  It's like having an eyelash under my contact all day."

"Maybe we need more than one day to push through the inauguration onto the business of communion. After the shine wears off, the real spiritual work begins." 

"The careful study of the Word has a goal, which is not the careful study of the Word.  The objective is to discover Jesus and allow Him to change our trajectory.  Meaning, a genuine study of the Word results in believers who feed poor people and open up their guest rooms..."

What in my life, if taken away, would altar my value or identity?

What causes an unhealthy change of attitude, personality, or focus when "it" become threatened?

What is the thing outside of God that you put everything else on hold for?

Her answer: approval, stuff, appearances, money, recognition, control...cynicism.

"Cynicism wreaked some havoc on my gentleness, my humility."  I feel convicted of this same thing.  Cynicism makes me feel cool.  Smart.  But I remember Lori Chaffer once saying to my husband, "Cynicism is the easy way out."  I think she nailed it.  That was nearly 10 years ago, isn't there a reason that's one of the few nuggets I still retain in this jumbled head?

Acts 7:51: You stiff-necked people...you always resist the Holy Spirit."

"Clinging to criticism has not made me happier; it just made me cynical.  It played a bit part when Jesus used discontentment to move me, but now it is simply baggage I must shed if I hope to carry on with integrity."