She sat on her bed, surrounded by clothes, possessions and things that she probably wouldn’t even notice if they were gone. She was finally noticing for the first time that she was comfortable. Now, to most people that may seem like a good thing, but for her, knowing this made her feel sick inside. How could she be comfortable with all the need in the world around her? How could she be ignorant of people starving and in need of a voice? How could she sit there, on her bed, content with the lost and hurting in the world and not do anything about it?
This was me about a month ago. Growing up in a middle-class American household, I never had to wonder if there was going to be food on the table. My dad worked hard for what we had. I was a normal kid, running through our average-size house, doing average choirs and buying average things. Sometimes, I would get frustrated with my parents when I saw my friends had some new toy and we couldn’t get it. I thought it was awful that I couldn’t have what my friends had; I thought I was suffering in some way. As I got older, I became more aware of the world around me. Yet, I was still selfish when my friends were given their own cars when they turned 16, and I still got mad when my mom wouldn’t let me get that shirt in the mall. My parents raised my brothers and I on Christian morals and values. Yet, somehow I failed to fully understand the life that God has called us to as followers of Him.
This semester I have been able to co-lead an upper-classman girls bible study. We decided to do this study called, The Seven Experiment: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. The study lasts for nine weeks, the first week being the introduction, the next seven weeks dealing with the challenges and the last week being the conclusion. It is based off a fast Jen and her family decided to partake in when an occurrence in their family’s life made her realize they needed to reevaluate how they were living. The seven weeks of challenges or fasts consists of food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending and stress. I did not begin to realize the problems in my life and how much I would feel convicted to change.
The first week was fasting from food. Let me start by saying I love food. I look forward to my meals each day, and sometimes that is the only thing that keeps me going. I realized through this particular week that it is not something to be proud of. I learned the reality of what I had been told growing up, that my body is a temple and I need to take special care of it. I knew going in to this week it was going to be one of the toughest for me. I chose to eat only seven foods the entire week and drink only water. The food consisted of whole wheat, broccoli, fish, chicken, apples, potatoes and eggs. Eating healthy is not just some obsession that our culture has gotten into, it is something that for me is biblical and eating and living simply is what we are to do in order to live a life of service and bring glory to God.
Clothing was also a tough week for me. I chose seven articles of clothing to wear throughout the week including two shirts, two pairs of pants, two pairs of shoes and a jacket. Because of this, I began to think of appearances as something deeper going on in society. People, specifically women, find a need to look good and be noticed. Clothing and makeup does that for many women. Sometimes as I’m getting ready in the morning I hope that I will be noticed. I have also found that we want to be noticed by men but even more than that, we want to be noticed, accepted and complimented by other women. During this week I broke through the wall of these lies and realized that I don’t want people to see me for the makeup and the clothes, but I want people to see my joy because of my Savior. I want people to see that I care, and I am kind because of the hope that I have. I want people to see that there is more to me than just this life.
The next week was fasting from possessions. I gave away a few bags of clothes and possessions. Having all the possessions and money in the world will not make me happy or fully satisfy me. Generosity, living below my means, giving, intentional restraint, battling poverty, simplicity, sharing, communal responsibility and humility, as listed in The Seven Experiment, are all things that cause happiness as well and with my experience this happiness is lasting.
The next week was dealing with media. Media is something that has really taken over our culture, containing both positive and negative things. As a younger generation, we are constantly stimulated by not just one but many different sources of media including television, Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. These things can be a huge distraction and can take away time and energy that could be put into other more lasting things. So, during this week I toned down my social media and television activity. It is crazy how much more time I had for things I can actually invest in long term.
The other challenges that I actually am in the process of or will face include waste, spending and stress. These weeks will be full of trial and error, and I’m sure I will learn a lot about myself. That is the point of this whole study though, learning through facing reality and truth, and I can’t believe the revelation that I have had during this semester while being a part of this study.
