2.07.2012

Excess for Simplicity

I haven't been this excited about a good read for quite some time.  7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess is engaging, winsome, and convicting.  The author is Jen Hatmaker, who makes me heartily laugh out loud even when no one is around.  The best way to describe her work with 7 is a wild social experiment accentuated by honest commentary and self-deprecating humor. 

Jen endeavors to give up an area of excess each month in order to clear out the clutter and allow margin to hear from God.  I just finished reading about her first month in which she cut out excess by consuming only seven foods all month: chicken, eggs, bread, sweet potatoes, spinach, avocados, and apples.  Spoiler alert: She lives to tell about it, even to elaborate on the other areas in which she cuts out excess (clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress).

Crazy?  A little bit.  But Jen's point is a good one.  She cites studies showing 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 65 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 of self-reported happiness."  Of course happiness, or the lack thereof, is more of a side effect than the goal of the whole project.  What Jen is after is steadfast, obedient, stalwart discipleship.

The goal of our consumption could be the gross wages we accumulate as easily as it might be the social media we mindlessly devour.  The subject of our consumption doesn't matter, but our misdirected longings for fulfillment through possessions, information, or spending do.  They squash our freedom.  Jen emphasizes that "when accumulation is not our bottom line, we are liberated to disperse our time and resources differently."  

She asks the reader some thoughtful questions on the front end to help identify areas of excess:

What in my life, if taken away, would alter my value or identity?

What is the thing outside of God that you put everything else on hold for?

Think about it.  I'll think about it too.  I've been thinking about it already, I guess.  If I'm brave enough, I'll write about my answers next time!  After all, if simplicity was good enough for my Lord, then it's good enough for me. 

"We cannot carry the gospel to the poor and lowly while emulating the practices of the rich and powerful." -Jen Hatmaker, 7

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