The Living with Less Project Continues

I'm a little late with our update for last week.  By way of explanation I will only say that last week was just a little bit stressful, and I was just a little bit grouchy, and my kids were just a little bit trying, and my calendar was just a little bit full. There.

So, last week's goals bled into this week and until this evening there wasn't much to report.  After a good jog in spring-like weather this evening, my head is clear and inspiration is bubbling.

I began our first week's update with, "We purged." I'm here to confess my first failure of my second and third weeks of fasting from excess. We didn't purge--even though I promised myself and Mark I would tackle one project each week, even if it was a small one.  The only thing that was purged were piles of dust, paper, preschool art projects, and some very old, very stinky food from the fridge. Baby steps.

And this leads me to my next confession. I purchased:

I bought some therapy items for Kaleb to help us jump start his oral motor skills. I don't feel terribly guilty about this. The whistles, straws, and juice cup will hopefully motivate him towards eating more independently, drinking through a straw, and building the muscles around his mouth. Though an extra by definition, I think this expense is justifiable.

But wait. It gets worse. Cue disclaimer: It was 64 degrees here today and sunny and the kids played outside the entire afternoon. Emelyn made up a new game for us that involved colored bubble wands and unicorn points. Shouldn't every game have unicorn points? We went for a walk, rode bikes, blew bubbles. I listened to music and cooked dinner with a warm breeze wafting through my kitchen window. I got a little excited for spring.  In my excitement, I forgot what I was about and bought two hop balls on Amazon for the girls.  You know, the ones with the handles that you sit and bounce on.  All I could picture were more warm days, more laughter trailing in my windows, and four sun-browned legs and two fluffs of hair--one blond, one brunette--bouncing up and down the sidewalks of our 1950s neighborhood.  All they need now are pogo sticks and saddle shoes.  I cheated. It was impulsive. It was very, very wrong.

The moral: I realized how ingrained consumer habits are in our daily lives.  Spring makes me think of sun and happy kids and playing outside, which leads me to think of....new toys? How did my mind get there? How have I come to associate the changing of the seasons with an itch for something new?  It happens every spring. I look around me and notice all that feels tired and overused and cluttered and I clean house only to refill it with new items that make me feel as fresh as the weather outside.  This may be normal behavior in America, but it is not normal behavior. So I learned something new about my habits and how unreflective I can be about in-the-moment purchases. (If you're wondering, the hop balls will be here in 5-7 business days. In case you wanted to invite yourself over for a test drive. Just sayin'.)

Even though I failed in the shopping department, I've kept up my goal of jogging twice a week instead of using my break from the kids to go out and spend. And tonight I saw the fruits of that choice. So here are my random thoughts while jogging-not-shopping:

I was huffing and puffing along this evening and thinking about how good it feels to move.  Our bodies were designed for exertion, for work, for movement.  There is something so simple and beautiful about running, the way each part of the body knows what to do and when. It's like poetry--complex, precise, spare, fluid. Watching a track meet or a marathon gives me goosebumps, it's so beautiful.

Even while I was thinking all this, I was feeling the sore muscles and throbbing shins and creaky knees beginning their own chorus.  "You're old. You're weak. You're slow."  I have no idea why, but it made me think about Jesus and all the walking he did across the arid lands of the Middle East.  If he was God, I thought, why didn't he run? He would have been an amazing runner. Heck, he could've gone on forever.  Never growing weary. And he could have covered a lot more territory in the process. Bringing his miracles and his revolutionary ideas to even more people. What was he thinking?

Because he didn't travel quickly.  He took four days to get to Lazarus who had long since died when he arrived.  "Where have you been?" Martha and Mary cried when he finally did turn up. "Why didn't you come sooner to save him?" they wept.  "Our brother is dead!"

He traveled by donkey and boat and foot.  And he did it all rather slowly.  But if he hadn't, if he hadn't moved at that pace, he wouldn't have had time to build relationships, to build community.  He wouldn't have had time for people.  If he had spread the truth and then quickly run to the next stop, the truth wouldn't have stuck. Instead, he stopped. He wept with Martha and Mary, then raised their brother from the dead.  He paused under the tree the infamous tax collector Zacheus had climbed and invited himself over for lunch. He welcomed children and valued women in a culture that wasn't very good at doing either. He spoke with the adulteress at the well when no one else dared.  Not only did he gravitate toward the marginalized, he took his time with them. Gave them his attention. His respect. His love.

And that is precisely what I've needed to hear these last weeks: that speed does not build relationships or community.  Far more valuable than my ability to participate in activities, to check items off my list, to keep my house in order is my choice to slow down, to stop, to listen, and to build.  There are three little people and one big one who live in my house, and I need to be in relationship with them, building the community that is our home.  And that takes time. And work. Slow down. Slow down. Slow down became the new rhythm my shoes made on the pavement.

I walked in the house to the noise of children and dinner preparations. And it felt just right. We ate a slow meal. We laughed. We read stories together. We tucked three Littles into their beds. Gave extra kisses.  Told each other what we're thankful for. I stepped back and saw that it was all very, very good.

I have more to report but that will do for now.  It's time to call it a night. More to come on what we DID accomplish last week.  I'm so excited about it, I can hardly wait to share!