Happy Monday ladies! Living in Costa Rica has been teaching me alot about simplicity, and recently I actually came across a book of quotes about the topic. Here is one that has been on my mind the past couple days.
“May we look upon our treasure, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try to discover whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions.” -John Woolman, 1774
I don’t know about you, but I shuddered when I read this. The lifestyle of the average North American is exploiting others around the world. Our materialistic mindset of “more, more, more for cheap, cheap, cheap” fuels a machine of modern-day slavery and injustice. Companies such as Walmart and Pier 1 Imports have been rated as some of the worst violators of human rights - in fact, slaves have been found as part of their work force overseas, and unfortunately many other companies are guilty of the same. All to keep prices low in North America so they can sell more.
We may not think that materialism is a very grave sin, but the Bible says that all sin leads to death. Our greed, even though it is very normalized where we live, is resulting in conflict around the world. Our sin is indirectly causing the death of others. Because injustice breeds conflict, our materialism is most certainly nourishing the seeds of war.
So how do we break out of this?
1. Take a look at your heart. Are you constantly wanting to buy something new, whether it’s clothing, accessories, things for the kitchen, furniture, decorations etc. PLEASE be honest with yourself. No one likes to admit they are materialistic. But if Jesus came to you today and said, give all you have to the poor, would you be okay with that? Or would you argue that you worked so hard for these things and cannot give them up?
2. Start purging. Set a goal of how many pieces of clothing you are allowing yourself to keep, and give everything else away. This goes for other things in your house as well.
3. Become a conscious shopper. When you do buy something, be creative about it. Find a second hand clothing store and give yourself a budget. Or repaint an old piece of furniture. Go to garage sales. I rarely go to the mall anymore. In fact, I kind of feel like throwing up when I set foot in one. I have made the transition to buying most of my stuff second hand.
4. Seek out fair-trade options. Buying something that is fair trade allows people in other countries to make a living in a fair way.
I have discovered that simplicity is hard to attain, but so worth it! This is the journey I want to continue as a Christ-follower. Please pray for me in this! I would encourage you to start the journey as well.
Michelle
Amy Nodwell Says:
April 9th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Right on Michelle.
May 6th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I have really hard time with this post as I know so, so many women who have done all the suggested, above. They serve, they are humble, they are kind, sweet, gentle and strong women of God yet they have not found “him” and there is nothing they can to to make it just happen. Having been one of these women and having gone through all the angst of waiting and praying and longing for “Mr. Right” I think it’s fair to be frank about it and say “it sucks”. And it really does. It’s funny that the two things many women want from life, a husband, a child, are the two things they can’t make happen or even work for. Think about it. You can work towards a career, you can work towards getting fit but you sure can’t follow a program to find yourself husband, or have a baby. I had so many friends that would say to me “when you are ready you’ll meet him” and of course they were all happily married women, and had been since their early 20’s. I had one married friend that was gracious enough to not give me the spiritual BS and would just say “it sucks”. There is nothing we can do to change God’s timing and His timing is perfect but when you are walking that single, lonely path, longing for a man to share your life with, it sucks and it doesn’t help when you have “marrieds” telling you to devlop your character and spiritual growth. I mean this all in the nicest possible way, I’ve just lived it and know that most single women are not just hanging around, resting on their laurels, waiting for Prince Charming.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Hi Michelle,
I understand what you are trying to say in this post. Not only as women, but as people, we are not validated by another person’s attraction or love for us. Rather, that is something to compliment a life, not to complete it.
However, in saying that, you have contradicted yourself by using language like ‘If you are not married, what are you doing to become worthy of being someone’s wife or girlfriend?’
I am a 28 year old single woman. I have a career I find satisfying working for an organization I believe in, I live in a city I am in love with, and I am surrounded by a strong and supportive community of friends and family. By myself, through my life, my values, my beliefs and achievements thus far, I am worthy. My ‘worth’ does not come from someone choosing to make me their wife or their girlfriend.
I WILL, as you said, ‘just wait around for Mr. Right’ because I will not settle for anything less then a man who is ‘worthy’ of being with me.
Thank you for your time,
J.
May 13th, 2010 at 7:02 am
Awesome thoughts girls…thanks so much for taking the time to express them on here. I have a feeling they resonate with a bunch of others who might read this post. Poppy love, you are very right that I am married and do not fully understand what it is like to be single anymore. However I do remember in my very early 20s being single and going to a stag and doe for friends…and driving home alone crying and screaming in my car at God because I felt so confused, discouraged, and left behind because I did not have what my friends did. It really does suck. I think the point I was trying to make is that instead of expecting a guy to be perfect, we must work on ourselves as well. I was not trying to say that if we do X, X, and X, a husband will come running to us. I just wanted to shed light on the fact that many women do not bother dealing with their own character because they expect a guy to be the solution to their problems. I do have alot of single friends, some of them very content with where they are at, and others really wanting to be married. I am sorry if I implied in any way that being single is easy for everyone. Having lots of married friends, I can imagine, could be very hard.
J, thanks also for your input. And thanks for pointing out my contradiction..I think I phrased wrongly what I meant once again! What I meant by ‘becoming worthy of being someones wife or girlfriend’ is that sometimes I see girls chasing guy after guy after guy, expecting him to be their saviour..meanwhile they are lazy about their own lives and character growth (obviously that is not the case for you, which is great). I was mainly addressing these girls…suggesting to them that the type of guy they are seeking probably won’t be found in a night club (I mean maybe, you never know…)…but going out and fooling around in attempts to find ‘the one’ will not attract ‘the one.’ This post really was not intended as much for women like you who are content with they job and community and who really just can ‘wait around’ until the timing is right. It was intended for girls who expect perfection from a guy without being serious about becoming they best they can be themselves.
Michelle