My mutiny :: a journey through Jen Hatmaker’s 7

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Two years ago this month I joined a women’s Bible study group that meets on Tuesday nights.  There are usually cookies of one sort or another–sometimes tea.  There is a chance to connect and decompress.  There is laughter and prayer and common ground.  Mostly there is God.  He’s there amongst–woven between and through–that group of women who seek Him.

As our meetings wound down at the end of last year, we didn’t know for sure which study book we’d pick up next.  There was one we’d mentioned, but put off out of fear.  7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. Judging by the title alone, you might be able to understand our intimidation.  Mutiny against excess?  No thank you.  If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll hang on to my excess, thankyouverymuch.

Oh, but this one had my heart stirring.  Something about the question it infers: what is more important, my stuff or my God?

Over the course of the study, group members are challenged to fast from seven areas of excess: clothes, spending, waste, food, possesions, media and stress.  She calls it a “social experiment to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism  and overindulgence.”  I don’t feel as though I’m a person who struggles with materialism.  Greed?  Well…it depends on context.  Overindulgence?  Hmmm.  I’d like to deny it, but several areas of my life reveal otherwise.

I read through the book intro the other night and learned that households with an annual income of greater than $50,000 are in the top 1% of the world’s richest.  Humbling, isn’t it?  My family exceeds that figure, but I never would have thought of us as rich.  Comfortable?  Certainly.  Rich?  Hardly.  Statistics say otherwise.

My group is starting the study tonight.  Confession: I’ve been praying about it for weeks, asking God for courage to see this thing through.  Here’s the thing: in my heart, I truly believe that when we lay down our own wants and desires and pursue God’s will for our lives, He will reward us for it.  Maybe {probably} not with material wealth, but with peace and contentedness that we wouldn’t otherwise find.  If we sacrifice in service to His Kingdom, He’ll come through big time.  He’ll fill our God hole to the brim.  But in my flesh, I’m afraid to let go of the things that make me most comfortable.

During the next nine weeks*, I’ll be posting updates on where I’m at with regard to my mutiny.  I hope that you’ll follow along, but If you’re inclined to pray that my family and I will come away from this thing with a deeper understanding of what it means to live well–to live right–we’d be most appreciative.

*One of the fasts is from media, which, as you might imagine, poses an interesting predicament for a blogger.  I’m not sure yet how I’ll address that.

So…here goes nothing.  Or everything, as the case may be.