In this book, Jen picked seven areas that she
felt were areas of excess and made seven simple choices to fight back against
the modern-day disease of greed, materialism, and overindulgence. She
documented her true feelings throughout each month. I love the way she writes-
it’s so convicting at the sometime you are smiling and laughing. I love it!
Anyways, I have taken these seven things and have arranged them a little
differently in my life to fit my schedule and everyday life. So far I have
completed almost three months out of the seven and have I learned so much!!!
Month
number one I practiced giving away seven things every day. Yes, you read that correctly- seven things every day. That’s 210
items, folks. It was great in the beginning, very freeing and felt so good to
be getting rid of the clutter. It was a challenge at times because I don’t have
that much stuff since I did move to Korea with just 2 suitcases, but it is
amazing how much stuff you do collect over time. This month really helped me to
put into perspective to think twice before I buy things. As the month continue
on and I had fewer things to get rid of I started getting rid of time by myself
(spending it with people), and writing notes of encouragement. It was just a different
way to think of “getting rid of”. The
month ended well. I have tried to continue
to live out the lessons that I did learn from this practice of being careful of
what I buy and getting rid of things that I just don’t need or use anymore.
Month
number two I did my very best to not use seven types of
media (tv/movies, facebook, pinterest, Pandora, intsgram, texting*, and
using the internet. *I did text some friends
& family to keep update to on some things.
Surprising this month was not as hard I was anticipating.
Not using these different types of media allowed for more space to be created
for moments of quiet (which are much needed, but I rarely do it), moments of
intentional time with people face to face and more time with my Savior. I have
gotten into some pretty bad habits of checking facebook often, wasting time on
pinterest and posting too much on instgram. Facebook is a great tool of
communication, but also a very destructive tool for jealousy and comparing to
others. It was hard to not be on facebook in the community that I am living in
because so many rely on it for communication, but it was a beautiful month of
not comparing me to others. I am still trying to figure out how to use facebook
with more caution and not allow the lies of jealousy to feed me while I am on
it. The use of media is still definitely
a weakness of mine and something that I need to continue to practice using in
moderation…
Month
number three has found me wearing a certain
amount of the some clothes all month. Confession- Jen (the author) only
wore seven pieces of clothing all
month, but I just couldn’t do it with my currently lifestyle of being a
teacher, running and such. So I picked out 15 pieces of clothing that I have
been wearing throughout the month. It hit me this weekend that I am starting to
get sick of my clothes, but I have learned a lot through this practice. (I only
have one more week to go… yay!) One, nobody even noticed. I asked my roommates-
they didn’t. I asked the Houser’s- they didn’t. And these are people that I see
almost daily! Oh, my! It has helped me to realize that people really don’t pay
attention to what you wear. People don’t really think “huh, didn’t you just
wear that last week?” Moral of the month: you don’t really need a lot of clothes to live each day of your life. I have decided that the money I spend on
clothes can very well go to something else that is much more need in someone else life. This month
has taught me a lot about being less selfish and more about being humble.
There are four months to go in this journey of
learning what it means to conquer excess, greed, materialism, and
overindulgence. I am both excited and anxious about the different practices I
will be learning from! J
What a beautiful journey it is taking me
of looking deeper into my heart and allowing God to show me areas that I need
to work and change!
A challenge for you… read the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker! It is a
great read!
Love,
Daniella
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