An excerpt from the author, Jan Hatmakers blog reads like this:
A seven-month experimental mutiny against excess, tackling seven areas of overconsumption in the spirit of a fast; a fast from greed, irresponsibility, apathy, and insatiability. Each area boiled down to just seven choices for a month:
Food.
Clothes.
Possessions.
Media.
Waste.
Spending.
Stress.
Food.
Clothes.
Possessions.
Media.
Waste.
Spending.
Stress.
Only seven foods for a month. Only seven pieces of clothes for a month. Give away seven things we own a day for a month. Eliminate seven forms of media for a month. Adopt seven substantial habits for a greener life. Spend money in only seven places. Practice "seven sacred pauses" a day and observe the Sabbath...a deeply reduced life to find a greatly increased God.
After I finished reading the book (and handing it off to Kaylee to read) I began to make my list...hmmmm...what would my seven things in each category be? Becky and I have already begun to discuss what we will be fasting. Yes, as you might have guessed if you know either of us, as we are like two peas in a pod when it comes to personality and expression of said personality, we began to strategize! Um, lets see, if we pick yoga pants (ok, right away you can tell my first idol is clothes) we can wear them to Zumba, to church if paired with a nice shirt, which we have to choose still, and we can wear them as relaxing around the house clothes....hmmm, how's that for a start to the heart of the matter????? And guess what folks? Clothes are the second month!!! I skipped straight past food... although both of us are petitioning the council, ie, Kaylee, for the allowance of coffee to not count as a food item...and amid the flurry of texts I am told she is considering it!
In all seriousness, I am excited and I am terrified. As I said in the previous post, I am tired of the same old same old, I want God to take me and break me open and shake me up...and yet, I don't because it means that I will have to pay attention, to open my eyes to see things that might hurt, to read His word in a way that will be more than convicting but revolutionizing. And He scares me when He sets His sights on me to change my way of thinking!!! And yet, I know that He will do it so lovingly, so carefully and so full of tenderness and joy and that He will not leave me. I think I am clueless in so many ways about how the Lord wants to open me up and make me see what I refuse to deal with, refuse to see in my daily life. I am so willing to go with the status quo that I don't even bother to think outside my little box. Its gonna be a bumpy ride folks! As I said yesterday, I have already begun to change, to grow, to look outside of the american dream to a bigger dream a bigger plan, the eternal one, the bigger goal, the salvation of many and the idea that we have no clue about the spiritual realm, no idea what things go on there and the change that can be affected when we are open to hearing God, to doing the work of His Kingdom. I wanna be His hands and His feet...and in many ways, I have not been!
So, starting next month, (we gotta wait for our councilman Kaylee to read the book) we will be starting our journey into the great unknown of fasting and of experiencing God in whole new ways.
Is. 58:6-9 Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and He will say, "Here I am!"
I am ready...but Lord? Can I still have my coffee??? :) (just kidding!)
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