Amazing Grace - Lessons for today

I love the movie Amazing Grace. And recently when watching it again I noticed a couple things I want to emulate about William Wilberforce.

1. His good friend spurred him on. Willam Pitt became Prime Minister during the period Wilbeforce was up against slave traders in Parliament. His friend indulged his thoughts and ideas. He brainstormed along side him and even did some work while Wilberforce was out sick for a period of time. Without his friend's help in soliciting votes, the law might not have passed. His friend was instrumental in his success and in his life as a freedom fighter. Pitt believed in Wilberforce's call to this mission and sought to propel and help him as much as he could.

2. He had a mentor. John Newton provided wisdom, guidance, and the needed push to keep Wilberforce going in a life of politics. Wilberforce wavered with pursuing a religious life rather than a political one and needed supporters who had his back throughout the tumult of getting the motion to law.

3. His spouse challenged him. While he didn't marry until in his late 30's, he did so to a woman who was already behind his cause. She encouraged his persistence and reminded him what he'd accomplished thus far.

4. He persevered through physical  illness and carried the burdens of many he'd never met.It's believed that William Wilberforce suffered from ulcerative colitis which was only treated back then with opium. It was stress-induced and with him most of his life. In addition, he was plagued by nightmares of slaves in their slave quarters on ships.

These choices and relationships were critical to him fulfilling the mission God gave him. He was surrounded by God's love in the form of these people who provided challenge and support at just the right moments. I recently heard the president of International Justice Mission at the Justice Conference. Gary Haugen spoke about how the work of justice "is long and boring" and the great persistence of the people who work with his organization. It's not a glamorous thing to do, but it's a worthy thing to do. I think about that phrase often - the work of justice is long and boring - it is reflected in the life of William Wilberforce, Lincoln and many others who allow the work of justice to sink deep into their souls. Thank God for them. May we all learn from their work and grow in our ability to persevere as God seeks to use our lives for His glory and to love a world that doesn't acknowledge him.

7: Clothes

As my small group continues our own mutiny against excess, we came up with several ways to examine our clothing and reassess the way we view clothing.

I chose 7 non-descript items of clothing for work and wore variations of them all week. I got absolutely NO comments on my clothing so here are the conclusions I came to:

1. My coworkers think I'm weird but they are not going to say anything to me.
2. I see a variety of people each day so it's possible that they didn't see me consecutive days to know that I wore similar clothes.
3. Nobody really noticed at all and I am the only one preoccupied with my wardrobe choices.

In addition to those conclusions I also learned:

1. I have too many clothes, and I need to unlearn the value of buying something shiny and new. That was a value instilled in me long ago and is one area I want to investigate more.
2. I truly enjoying getting dressed and making choices regarding colors, fabrics, styles. And while I enjoy it I need to remember it's a choice, not an expectation. And when I get frustrated and feel "I have nothing to wear" I need to be chided!  
3. The American culture values consuming and newness A LOT and I get sucked in unwittingly too often. I want to increase my awareness of such messages and feel more confident questioning them.

So continues my saga with this book 7. I've realized I cry each chapter I read. Either because I overly identify with the author or because her lessons are refreshing and that soothes my soul in ways that are touching (and therefore covered in tears). 

7: FOOD pt 2

Well days 5, 6, and 7 of the FOOD challenge were a bit easier, or I just got lazier. It's hard to say. Remember on Day 1 when I rationalized that if coffee was given to me then I could include it in my food that day? Well the same thing happened just before Easter when I went to stay with my grandmother. She is very hard to say no to and she's consistently asking you if you're hungry, followed by 6-7 choices of your favorite foods, she keeps on hand in her refrigerator (including a lot of cheese which I gave up for all of Lent). I was officially done with the challenge by Easter morning and thoroughly enjoyed the choices for our brunch. One of the tastiest parts was the bunny cake competition which is included below:

Conclusions thus far:
I value choices and variety far above many other things.
Food is easily an idol in my life given the struggle this challenge was.
Food is easily an idol in the lives of my friends as well. We all did our share of complaining, justifying, rule-bending, and excuse-making in our first week.
This book is seriously messing with my life.
Grocery shopping has a different meaning for me now and I try to remember how grateful I am for the choices, flavors and recipes I can enjoy.
I will revisit this idea of fasting, limiting food choices, or simply reducing (by eating what is already in my house) more often in the coming months. A good habit doesn't develop in only 7 days. In some ways, our altered challenges might be setting us up for more frustration than if we did 30 days.

To end this section in full irony, enjoy this song from Chris August on his love of Candy :)

So the next chapter is on Clothes and we've accepted the challenge. I will commit to a clothes audit (truthfully counting up all my current articles of clothing and sharing that number with my small group) and wearing 7 items of clothing for 7 days (as an adaptation we agreed 7 items for work and 7 items for non-work, since we all have dress codes to abide by and the author did not). Stay tuned :)