Giving is Better than Receiving

I have often heard that saying: giving is better than receiving. And I have long believed it to be true. But the collection of things I own would suggest I also really like receiving.

We have come to the end of Month 3 in the grand 7 experiment. This month was all about possessions and giving them away. Jen opted to give away 7 items a day for a total of 210 items over the course of the month. Unlike her, I am not a family of 5 living in a house. I'm a single girl living in a bedroom. I figured I wouldn't have that much to give away.

But then I cleaned out my closet.

Remember the number of clothes I said I had?

Yeah. I reduced that by more than half. Much of it doesn't fit me any more. But most of it is still wearable. So I've given it away. Some to Goodwill. Some to an organization here in Georgia that works with single moms and their kids who are victims of domestic abuse.

In addition to the clothes, I pulled out purses, shoes, bags, and even some books (gasp!) to help these women and their families start a new life.

I prayed over everything before I sent it off, asking God to use it show His love to the recipients.

Jen shared a story in the book about providing household items for a single mom. After receiving all these items, this woman could look around her and know that God loved her because He had provided.

I loved what Jen wrote as she processed the lesson from that experience:

"Sometimes the best way to bring good news to the poor is to bring actual good news to the poor. It appears a good way to bring relief to the oppressed is to bring real relief to the oppressed. It's almost what Jesus meant what He said. When you're desperate, usually the best news you can receive is food, water, shelter. These provisions communicate God's presence infinitely more than a tract or Christian performance in the local park. They convey, 'God loves you so dearly, He sent people to your rescue.'"

I want to remember that moving forward, to see every opportunity to give as an opportunity to be a part of God showing His love to someone who desperately needs it.

The best part about this month was seeing God's perfect timing at work.

I bought a new computer in September. Because of doing 7, I knew I wanted to give away my old computer. I had some ideas as to where it should go, but God had an even better idea. As the "old" computer sat under my desk gathering dust, God was putting a plan into motion that would bless my heart in ways I couldn't have imagined.

Two days before we started Possessions month, my best friend posted on Facebook that her computer had literally fried (like, with smoke coming out of it and everything) in the midst of writing a paper for midterms. It took me two days to realize I had the solution sitting under my desk. Instead of giving my computer away to a stranger, I got to give it to someone I dearly loved. I got to be a part of easing her stress a little as she balances work & school with being a wife & a mom. How cool is God?

So here's my challenge to you: What do you have just sitting in your house that you could give away? Ask God to help you see those things and to see the opportunities He's presenting for you to give them to someone who truly needs them. I guarantee it's better than receiving!

Two Thousand Combinations: The Truth About My Closet

How many times have I stared into my closet or my dresser drawers feeling like I've got nothing to wear? How many times have I been late leaving the house because I've been agonizing over an outfit? How often do I scroll through Pinterest wishing I had the money to buy the clothes I see?

It's a never-ending cycle: wanting to look cute, feeling the "need" for more clothes.

And it's all based on a lie.

266

That's the number of clothing items in my possession. I counted. I counted everything. I have enough tops and pants to create nearly 2000 different outfits. That's about 5.5 years' worth of outfits.

Meanwhile there are kids in Ecuador with one set of clothing to their names.

This represents about 1/2 of my wardrobe.

How did I get to this point? By convincing myself I needed it.

"It fits. It's pretty cute. And it's on sale for $12. Why not?"

The sad thing is... whatever "it" is usually gets worn once and then never again.

So why all this sudden interest in my closet? I mean, I don't normally spend a Friday night counting every clothing item I own. The answer: Clothing Month of 7 (if you don't know what 7 is, check out last month's blog).

For this month's challenge, Jen chose 7 items of clothing and wore only those for the entire month. I opted to do the same. For four weeks, I had the following clothing options: dark skinny jeans, "comfy" pants, my End It t-shirt, 2 solid color shirts, my blue cardigan, and my TOMS shoes. While Jen opted not to wear accessories, I allowed myself a few options, mostly because I don't wear them and I wanted this month to be about learning how to use what I have.

Overall, this was an easy month. I work from home, so I pretty much wore the comfy pants & End It t-shirt every day (apologies to my roommates). If I was leaving the house, on went the skinny jeans and one of the other shirts. It made getting dressed super easy.

It especially made getting ready for church easy. At one point, Jen talks about speaking at a women's event in Atlanta during clothes month. She points out the general tendency for female Atlantans to look put together and cute when they're seen in public. I have found this to be true since moving here a year ago. And this has fueled my desire to look just as put together and cute whenever I go somewhere. Sunday mornings can be an ordeal as I struggle to make sure my outfit looks just right. Removing the pressure this month was wonderful.

And I realized that I need to stop spending so much time worrying about what other people think about what I'm wearing. Most likely, they aren't even noticing. And besides, shouldn't I be more worried about them noticing my heart and my character?

As a single woman I have a tendency to leave the house with this thought in the back of my mind: "I could meet my husband today." While that is true, it should never be the motivating factor in what I choose to wear. It's ok to want to look cute. But I should spend far more of my time, energy, and resources on developing my relationship with God. After all, I'd prefer my husband be more attracted to me as a person that what I'm wearing.

So the result of this month was an attitude adjustment when it comes to clothes. I cleaned out my closet and will be throwing away or donating more than half of the items I had. That huge number is mostly thanks to the fact that most of my clothes don't fit me anymore. [Word of advice: when you stop having 5-10 hours of dance rehearsal a week, your metabolism will slow down.] There are things I will need to replace, but I'm going to choose to be wise about my purchases: look for sales, shop at thrift stores, only buy things I'll need and will wear more than once.

The truth is, I have plenty of clothes (even now with half of my closet), and I need to be grateful for that blessing. Next time you hear me say, "I have nothing to wear," you have my permission to smack me... or gently remind me that this is a lie.

The Prodigal Son & Cheese Balls

I glance up from my computer and something across the room catches my eye. It's barrel-shaped, a clear plastic tub full of small orange objects. My brain immediately registers: CHEESE BALLS!! Like Pavlov's dogs when they hear that bell, I instantly begin to drool; I can almost taste the cheesy goodness...

And then I snap back to reality and see the barrel for what it really is: a container of cheese-flavored dog treats.

Gross.

This is just one moment of hunger-induced delusion I experienced during my first 3 weeks of the 7 experiment. Originally done by Jen Hatmaker (it's the subject of her book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess), 7 is about simplifying in 7 different areas of life: food, clothes, possessions, shopping, media, waste, and stress. I had seen the book mentioned a few places and was intrigued by the idea. So when my friend Emily suggested creating our own "tribe" to do the experiment together, I jumped at the opportunity. I knew that without accountability and encouragement, I'd never do it on my own.

The first month is food. Jen pared her food choices down to just 7 items. Some of her friends choose to eat like the poorest people in 7 impoverished countries. Our group discussed other ideas like limiting our weekly food budget to that of someone who receives food stamps. I decided to follow Jen's plan. For 3 weeks, I only ate eggs, chicken, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, apples, and avocados; no spices beyond salt & pepper; nothing but olive oil; I also limited drinks to just water.

I'm not a coffee drinker like many of the other girls in our group, so I didn't have to deal with caffeine withdrawal. My addiction is sugar. I LOVE sugar in pretty much any form: cookies, cake, donuts, ice cream... pardon me a moment while I clean the drool off my keyboard. I'm pretty sure I went through sugar withdrawal during those first few days. I had to adjust my eating habits to make sure my blood sugar levels stayed stable. It sucked.

And then I had moments when I thought dog treats were cheese balls.

I thought was doing pretty well. It's pretty easy to make meals when you're limited to 7 items. I ate pretty much the same thing every day: egg & kale omelette and an apple for breakfast; chicken, kale, avocado salad for lunch, an apple snack; chicken and a sweet potato for dinner. It got boring. And when it got boring, I got cravings. And when I got cravings, I got hungry. Hungry enough to eat dog treats apparently.

I started thinking about the story of the Prodigal Son. He got to a point where he was hungry enough to eat pig slop. And he was probably legitimately hungry: out of money, far away from home, working for a pig farmer. I, on the other hand, am usually not legitimately hungry. Comparatively, I'm rich. And I have lots of food options. But when I get bored or depressed or bored, I feel the need to eat, so I trick myself into thinking I'm hungry. And then I eat whatever I can find. I can't be bothered to look for something healthy. I can't be bothered to wait a few minutes to see if my "hunger" or craving will subside. I want food and I want it now.

Him + nothing = EVERYTHING I NEED

And then I started thinking about my relationship with God. Every desire I have, every seeming "lack" can be satisfied by Him. And yet in the moment, I settle for whatever I can find that seems like it might do the trick. Like my snack choices, it's usually not a healthy choice. And it definitely doesn't satisfy the desire, which was probably just a craving for something I don't have (or can't have) and think I should have. Just like eating an apple will keep me fuller longer than eating a donut, going to God instead of... well... everything else... will keep me spiritually full. That's why we need to do things like fasting, so we can realize that God is enough and more than enough.

I'm back to eating more than just those 7 foods now. But I'm trying to be conscious of my food choices. I enjoyed going to the Farmer's Market each week - buying local produce and meeting the people who are growing my food - so I plan to continue doing that. I want to eat to live instead of living to eat (saw that on Pinterest the other day... no idea who said it but it's brilliant), to see my food as energy for enjoying life and not just something to do when I'm bored.

And I'm trying to spend more time with God, to fill up on Him instead of junk, to realize I need Him just as much as I need food. What better place to get energy for life than from the Creator of life Himself? I'm not very good at believing He is enough... yet. But I have a feeling that's going to change as I continue this journey of 7.