October: Waste
Guys, this month just sucked.
With Trev on Sabbatical and us gone for almost 2 weeks in the middle, and then again some other days here and there....we just didn't do a good job.
We decided not to plant a winter garden, we forgot our reusable bags all but one time, we did do our best to remember to recycle but we didn't do great.
The good things:
Being October in Southern Oregon means (usually) no heater on and no AC, so that part we did good in!
We didn't buy any paper towels, napkins, baggies, foil or cling-wrap. We had to get creative for sure, but we did just fine. We won't be going back to paper towels, so that's a positive!
Although we didn't buy local, I did do an amazing job with our groceries and pared our budget down even more, and we ate it all up...hardly any waste. That always feels good!
This is definitely an area we can continue to improve upon and we will!
November is about Stress. Jen takes time at 7 different places throughout the day to pray. Jen says this about how difficult this month was for her:
I found this month very challenging and equally beautiful. Evidently, I don’t respond well to interruptions, Spirit-led or otherwise.
But these pauses, plus the Sabbath, plus the sabbatical taught me something: My heart craves a slower life. I want people to stop prefacing their phone calls with this: “I know you’re so busy, but if I could just have a second…” I want to figure out what this means for our family. We can’t live in the barn forever, nor can we pull out of work, ministry, school, community, mission, family, and all the activities that accompany them. But what can we do to cultivate a quiet ranch heart in a noisy urban world?
Jen took the example set by this book Seven Sacred Pauses, and intentionally paused at certain times in the day to pray. It didn't matter what she was doing, or where she was. One of the times is in the middle of the night (around midnight). The point being, to take time out of your day, and pause, breathe, reflect and pray. In this day, this type of thing can be very difficult and you can make a million excuses why you can't do it at this certain time or whatever. You can though. If you choose to.
The other thing she does is make sure and take part in the Sabbath. Basically, take a day and do church, rest, be with your family and eat. Don't plan events, don't fill your day with other stuff, just be. From sun up to sun down, do it.
Fast from stress. It's around us all the time, bombarding our faces and our computers and our phones. We have a say in this matter, it's time to step up our game and just say no.
I think even if you didn't do "well" with your month of waste, your efforts reveal a lot about the character of your family. It would benefit most of us to take time to focus on some of the areas. It's so easy to just make excuses of why we could never do something like that bc of x,y,z but ultimately it comes down to priorities.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being obedient to the Lord's calling on your family & involving all of us in your process :)
I love how honest you are! And, it sounds like you had a great month!! can't wait to hear how "stress" goes... :)
ReplyDeleteahh, you are speaking right to my heart! rest, choosing to stop and pause and breathe deeply and pray ... SUCH good, needful choices. bless you, precious mama!!!
ReplyDeleteooooh, krystle. this is speaking to me. we are feeling pretty maxed out, and i was just thinking the same thing today....i don't want people to think we're too busy for them. appreciate your honesty and for those significant small changes you're making. way to go.
ReplyDeleteI have started this book, but that is how far I have gotten. I really want to get reading and doing this book! Thanks for the great reminder.. I need to rest more often!
ReplyDelete