Summer of 7

After reading Jen Hatmaker's book, "7: Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" I fell off my rocker into the  7 world.  I was determined to try this experiment of hers.  This book messed me up good, and has now led me to other books that are messing me up even more... in a good way... sort of.

Anyways, after completing 2 months of experiments I sorta stopped.  Those 2 months were tough but rewarding.  So I haven't done anything Sevenish for a few months.  Then today I see a link to www.sixbrickshigh.com and they are declaring "The Summer of 7"!  Ha!  I love it.  A group of bloggers and whoever else who will be going through the experiments of "7" for seven weeks during the summer.  Every one makes their own rules since everyone is so different.

Anywho, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, and back onto the 7 horse. Oh dear!  And since tomorrow is June 1st I guess I'll start tomorrow with 7 articles of clothing.  So I can only wear 7 items of clothing for the week.  From June 1st-7th.

Here's my 7:

1. Black stretch pants
2. Honolua hoodie
3. Blue v-neck
4. MissMe jeans
5. White long sleeve t-shirt
6. Black v-neck
7. skinny jeans

I'm reading a book right now about a young woman who moves to Africa to serve and care for the people of Uganda.  It comes as no surprise that the book talks about starvation, lack of food.  At one point it describes a woman making cakes of mud and salt just to have something to fill her children's hungry stomachs.

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and they were talking about the First Lady's new book, "American Grown".  A book about gardening.  The discussion led to the poor diet of most Americans and the "Obesity Crisis".

The contrast between these two bites of information collided!  I mean, it's not like it was news to me that there are people in the world that are starving, or that there are a large number of people in America that are fat.  The piece that struck me is that the problem in America is that we're eating too much.  And the problem in Africa is that they don't have enough to eat.

We're dying because we're eating too much food.  They're dying because they don't have enough food

We're trying to keep our kids from getting fat.  They're trying to keep they're kids alive.

Some of us have to force ourselves to drink a few glasses of water per day.  They're dying because the nearest watering hole is 6 miles away.

I am not pointing the finger, and if I am it's at myself. (This is coming from the girl who downed 5 s'mores last night)  I'm just saying that this is CRAZINESS!  If we consume less, and give to them, doesn't everybody win?  We won't die from heart attacks and diabetes and other diseases linked to obesity.  They won't die from starvation.

And I know about all the food processing and how that factors in.  But I'm just thinking about pure quantity.  We have much, they have little (if any).  If we give out of our abundance, they have what they need.

I think there's a reason why the story of creation does not include, "and then God made a wooden structure for the people to live in.  It had four walls and it sheltered them and kept them inside, away from the creation He had just made."  Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for my house!  And I know shelter is so necessary and there are many who are living without it.

But I just went for a short morning walk!  It is sunny and beautiful and birds are singing and the air is filled with the smells of Spring.  And I'm pretty sure my heart almost burst at the joy it brought me.  I would not call myself an outdoorsy kind of girl in the least.  But there is something wonderful being outside in the middle of all that God created.  Especially first thing in the morning when everything is waking up.

And can I get a "WOOT WOOT" for the sunshine.  Because if it had been gray and raining today this blog post would most likely not have been written.  Instead I would have written about how amazing hot coffee is and how I love sitting in a comfy chair with it in the morning.

Moral of the story:  GO OUTSIDE TODAY!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!