It's 1 am. I can't sleep. I'm on mommy alert mode with the thunder and rain outside. I just finished cutting and laminating some activities for Matthew tomorrow and now I'm reading Chapter One of "7" by Jen Hatmaker.
These words are still resonating in my mind....
That critical perspective has to go, too. Cynicism wreaked some havoc on my gentleness, my humility. When God interrupted our lives a couple of years ago, He deconstructed some toxic paradigms and rebuilt them on a sturdier foundation. However, unwilling to address them, I left a few in rubble, never reconstructed or reimagined. The debris proved fertile soil for cynicism, as it always does for the obstinate.
So I repent today, acknowledging my reflection in the Scripture we studied: “You stiff-necked people . . . you always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). That is not the legacy I want to leave. I want to live gratefully, humbly, hopefully. Clinging to criticism has not made me happier; it just made me cynical. It played a bit part when Jesus used discontentment to move me, but now it is simply baggage I must shed if I hope to carry on with integrity.
AND
Ironically, studies show that increased consumerism comes at a steep price. A rise in prosperity is not making people happier or healthier. Findings from a survey of life satisfaction in more than sixty-five countries indicate that income and happiness track well until about $13,000 of annual income per person. After that, additional income produces only modest increments in self-reported happiness. It’s no wonder. We are incurring debt and working longer hours to pay for the high-consumption lifestyle, consequently spending less time with family, friends, and community.
“Excess consumption can be counterproductive,” said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch. “The irony is that lower levels of consumption can actually cure some of these problems.”6 That makes sense: If we buy only what we need and can afford, debt becomes a moot point. When accumulation is not our bottom line, we are liberated to disperse our time and resources differently. I know working to pay off The Man and keep the house of cards intact has not made me a happy camper. A bunch of us are wondering if there is a better way.
AND
What I do know is that my “something” is a desire to look more like Jesus. I am pierced by Gandhi’s astute observation: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Would Jesus overindulge on garbage food while climbing out of a debt hole from buying things He couldn’t afford to keep up with neighbors He couldn’t impress? In so many ways I am the opposite of Jesus’ lifestyle. This keeps me up at night. I can’t have authentic communion with Him while mired in the trappings He begged me to avoid.
AND this....
Four of the top ten causes of death in America today are chronic diseases with well-established links to our industrialized diet: coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer. These health plagues remain rare in countries where people don’t eat like us, even if its local diet is high in fat or carbs, the two straw men America decided to fight. The basics of the Western diet include:
• The rise of highly processed foods and refined grains
• The use of chemicals to raise plants and animals in huge monocultures
• The abundance of cheap calories of sugar and fat
• The massive consumption of fast food
• The shrinking diversity of the human diet to a tiny handful of staple crops, notably wheat, corn, and soy (thanks to vigorous lobbying and strategic subsidization by our government)
• The conspicuous absence of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains
This bodes terribly for us, and it is downright disastrous for our children. In fact, U.S. life expectancy was projected to rise indefinitely, but a new data analysis from the New England Journal of Medicine suggests this trend is about to reverse itself due to the rapid rise in obesity, especially among children. Our kids are the first generation in the history of America that has a shorter life span than their parents.
1 comment:
Convicted!! Very interesting and eye-opening, Thanks for sharing this Lori!
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