Lent

I had a good friend in college who taught me tons about the season of Lent. One of those was a very thoughtful approach to the typical parts of the season. She would either add something to her life (like volunteering on a regular basis, fasting lunch, etc) OR she would be gracious in sacrifice. For example, she wouldn't give up chocolate, but instead she would put a dollar in a jar every time she ate it. She would then donate the money.

I like her approach. Last year we decided that eating out was bad for our pocket book, waistline (well, I was pregnant, but you know what I mean), and time together. We had starting lacking the creativity to create a healthy dinner rhythm.

Originally we were going to buy and eat local for Lent. I still really like this idea, but I don't know if we truly have the time and resources to do this fully. Micah likes the idea of not eating out anymore, but I feel like that has been done and I want a challenge. Especially because we ended up just buying lots of expensive pre-made meals at the Fresh Market.

So instead we are going totally generic for Lent. We recently attended a Training and Equipping at Common Ground and participated in a track about family rhythm. What we know about how we'd like our rhythm to be is that we desire to be a family that serves and loves the nations, we are social justice oriented, and we desire a simple life. So this year we are going to explore what is means to live simply.

What does a simple dinner look like? Or a simple weeknight? What if we had spaghetti and played a card game instead of multiple food items and TV in the evening? Where can we cut back in our spending? What does it look like to eat food without processed ingredients? Can we rid ourselves of this clutter? Does buying furniture for Micah's business count as living more simply?

So, this year we are going to approach our lifestyle head on and, hopefully, start the foundation for how we raise our family for years to come...

peace.