"7" Book summary

I thought I would write up a book report/Cliff's notes on book to help me organize my thoughts and to use a reference.

7: An experimental mutiny against excess by Jen Hatmaker

Jen Hatmaker had been feeling the weight of excess in her life and wanted break through to greater simplicity. One of her motivations was to make herself more accessible to the Lord in works of charity.

Month 1 Food
She and her husband reduced their diet for the month to seven foods.

• chicken
• eggs
• spinach
• sweet potato
• apples
• avacado
• whole wheat bread/tortilla

As a food and flavor lover, Jen found this fast forced her to look to God when she got frustrated with her self-imposed fast.  A restricted diet like this meant that she never went more than 5 hours without being confronted with her fast and the reasons for it.  She spent this month learning about the poor and hungry of the world as well as about the industrialized food supply she usually partook in.

Month 2 Clothes

She and her husband reduced their wardrobe to seven articles of clothing each.  Underwear and socks got a free pass.  Otherwise the clothing was

• shoes
• 3 sets of pants
• 3 shirts
• no coats, jewelry, accessories or belts (she is from Texas)

In this month, she discovered how little attention other people paid to what she wore.  She was brought to face how much she spent on clothing and how little she really needed.  

Month 3 Possessions

Jen was concerned about whether she would really be able to find 7 things per day to give away.  It turned out that thinning out her wardrobe nearly completely met the 210 item goal.  She stretched beyond just a clothing purge.  She seemed really energized to be able to help provide for refugees and others in real need by thinning out the excess in her own home.

This month helped her focus on how her possessions distracted her from helping the poor and marginalized.  Giving away many possessions continued to open her eyes to the way they used their money for themselves while forgetting those God clearly has a special place for in his heart.

Month 4 Media

The author and her whole family abstained from 

• TV
• Gaming
• Facebook/Twitter
• iPhone apps
• Radio
• Texting for fun 
• Internet except as needed for their jobs

Jen found that this month revealed to her where some of her time drains were.  She found that she had more time to be available to God's presence.  It was a real sacrifice for her to abstain from favorite TV programs which she and her friends followed.  This fast also forced her family to deal with each other rather than let media distract them from glitches in their relationships.  At least to begin, this fast was hardest for the author's husband, but he wrote a very favorable review of the month at the end of the chapter.

Month 5 Waste

The Hatmakers took up

• Gardening
• Composting
• Conserving Energy & Water
• Recycling
• Driving only one car
• Shopping Thrift & Second Hand
• Buying only local

This month caused Jen to take a hard look at her assumptions about how her purchasing and disposal choices impact others globally.  It also focused her on the earth as God's handiwork.  Without being judgmental she commented on the deliberate separation most evangelical leaders have put between themselves and environmental issues.  At the end of the month she compared taking care of the environment to taking care of these marvelous bodies that God gives us.  

Month 6 Spending

The family restricted their spending to 7 outlets.  Charitable giving was considered outside this fast.

• Their farmer's market
• One gas station
• Online bill pay
• Kids' school
• Limited travel fund
• Emergency medical
• Target

"Vast consumption is so ordinary that it's absence was shocking.  I didn't realize how casually I "grab lunch" or "run through the bookstore" or "pick up that little scarf."  I admit, I have a compulsion to buy something somewhere..."  This month highlighted consumer impulsiveness and how we socialize through consumption.  The author's family had to be creative and deliberate to meet up with friends outside restaurants and in ways that didn't require buying extra stuff.  It pointed to the way people shop/consume for a sense of satisfaction.  That satisfaction is transient, so we buy more.

Month 7 Stress

The author and her family observed a fast from stress by deliberately observing a Sunday Sabbath and 7 traditional prayer pauses throughout the day.  

The Sabbath day was observed from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday.  It began with a family meal, the lighting of candles, sharing of bread, and responsive reading of prayers.

The 7 Pauses were

• The Midnight Watch or Vigils: Prayer for the hurting.  Psalms 42, 63 and 119: 145-152
• The Awakening Hour: celebrating God's glory and goodness.  Psalms 19, 95 & 147
• The Blessing Hour: remembering the presence of the Spirit and the sacredness of our hands and our work.  Psalms 67, 84, 121
• The Hour of Illumination (noon): remember Jesus embracing the cross and ask for light for self inspection.  Psalms 24, 33, 34
• The Wisdom Hour: remembering that all things here pass away and ask for wisdom to live wisely (to "live like we were dying") in a transient world.  Psalms 71, 90 & 138
• The Twilight Hour or Vespers: gratitude, serenity.  Psalms 34, 139 & 145
• The Great Silence or Compline: Evaluating the day remembering that we are loved sinners; praying for protection and healing in the darkness.  Psalms 23, 91, & 134

Jen struggled to make space for the Sabbath and pauses.  It took effort to retrain her thinking to Sabbath being holy rather lazy or selfish.  It was restorative.

At the end of the 7 fasts, the Hatmakers had developed some new sustainable habits out of the fasts. They had developed more self control and new perspectives on how they used their wealth. They felt that the work of the fasts had prepared them for labors, yet unknown. 

Saturday at home

Four of my favorite people in the world

Lego master

Partners in crime

Funny girl

Optimistic boy

Nathan notes

A couple of days ago Nathan pushed his pacifier back into his mouth with his arm.  He's clearly gifted.

Over the weekend Paul and Nathan were face to face.  Nathan made some sort of loud verbalization, and then the two boys giggled at each other.

Baby belly laughs are the best.  Somebody should figure out how to bottle that stuff up and dispense it to the sick.  It would cure a whole host of ills.

Nathan seems to enjoy bathtime, which surprises me because I invariable get water in his eyes or let him get a little chilly.  Each time he is in his little tub, his eyes get wide, and he is looking around.  You can tell that his little senses and his brain are churning.

He has started babbling stories and jokes to us.  I wish there were some way to transcribe or translate them. They are hilarious, although sometimes the funny stories have tragic endings.

Nathan still likes to be swaddled for sleep, so he is still in his cradle by our bed.  I suppose that soon we will move him to the crib in the nursery, but I am in no particular hurry.  They are only tiny once.

Breaking the box

Do you know why Mother Theresa terrifies me?

What, you are not scared of Mother Theresa?

The reason Mother Theresa terrifies me is that anybody could do what she did.

Consider.  She said no to possessions.  She said no to comfort.  She said no to sophistication, to romance or to a career path.  She walked away from a life she might have lived.  She walked to the poor and the dying and gave them love.

Consider the credentials necessary for that work.  You don't have to be rich.  You don't need an advanced degree.  You don't have to understand the subtler points of international or even local politics.  You don't need to have a keen head for numbers, a green thumb, or cutting edge technology.  All you need is to trust Jesus that helping the poor, sick and dying is significant.  Lay down what you cling to.  Care for people in a manner that disregards your own convenience and comfort.

What excuse can I give for not doing likewise?

A couple of years ago we had neighbors who needed.  Their finances went into a tailspin, their jobs came and went, ex-spouses complicated life and their children needed some extra stability.  I resisted loving on them because I was scared of being sucked into the messiness of their life.  I wanted my comfort.  I wanted convenient relationships.

In the last year I have read:
"One Thousand Gifts: a dare to live fully right where you are" by Ann Voskamp
"Simplicity Parenting" by Kim J. Payne
and
"7: an experimental mutiny against excess" by Jen Hatmaker

Those books (in conjunction little Bible passages like the Beatitudes, the sheep and the goats, and the whole book of James) are making me scrutinize where I have put confidence, how I have used my goods and good fortune, and how I connect with people.

I have a little revolution fomenting.

Martin Luther King day seemed like a good time to reflect on it.

I want to travel lighter.  I want to dare to let go of some physical wealth.  I want to be shrewd to use that physical wealth to help people who are of no advantage to me.  I want to dare to care and risk the hurt of caring.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

—C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

P.S.

Don't worry.  I'm not about to abandon my family to go live in Calcutta.  I consider my family a divine responsibility. If I do anything crazy, we'll do it together.

That's not what we meant

One of the things on my wishlist for Christmas was a nut chopper to replace the one I destroyed when I tried to run almonds through it.  I was given a new nut chopper that is supposed to be sturdy enough to chop even those hard almonds.  Last week, however, I did have to explain to Julia that the almonds really must be out of their shells before she tries to chop them.

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Over the weekend we finally sent out some Christmas letters.  I set up a mailing station at our kitchen table and had Paul and Julia help me stuff envelopes.  I explained to them that I had accidentally printed some of the addresses on the wrong side of the envelope.  "As long as the stamp is on the same side as the address, it should be okay.  Understand, Julia?"

"Sure, mom."  (By sure, she meant that she thinks she knows what she thought I said.)

A little while later the conversation went something like this:
"Julia, you put the stamps on the wrong side!"
"What?"
"You put the on the wrong side of the envelope!"
"I put them where you told me to put them."
"No, we said to put them on the same side as the address."
"That's what I did."
"No, you put them on the opposite side as the address.  Don't do any more like that."
She reaches for another envelope.
"NOOO, you are putting it on the opposite side!  You are supposed to put it on the same side."
"That's what I'm DOING!"
"NO, THAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING!"

So, evidently when we said to put the stamp on the same side as the address, Julia understood that to mean to put the stamp in the same corner as the return address, just on the opposite side.

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The other night Paul got some food on his sweater during supper, so Steve and I told him to take off his sweater and put it in the laundry.  Paul was talking to us while he obeyed, and clearly his head wasn't in his task.  He stopped about 2 feet short of the room with the laundry hamper and started to put his sweater in the kitchen trash can.  "NOOOO!"

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After church last Sunday, Paul started explaining to Steve and me that we could dig a new room under the basement.  "We could have a hidden door to a slide to get to our secret room and then we could use the room for family meetings."
"Because the kitchen table doesn't work for family meetings now?"
"We would need a ladder or something to get back out."

We clearly just don't understand.

Petra-isms

The other day Petra explained that she heard what I said to Nathan in the other room because, "I heard you on the baby momilator."

She has been learning the 23rd Psalm to recite as a bedtime prayer. "Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall disappear..."  We cannot persuade her that tableness and  merciness are not the correct words.

She pulls her socks off whenever she can, gleefully reporting, "I'm a Sockless Wonder!"

One of the parts of potty training which she has been resisting is washing her hands.  After getting off the potty she prayed (completely unpromted) "God, please don't make me wash my hands."

Last week she and Steve had a bit of a battle/meltdown because he would not let her wear her sparkly shoes to church because of the snow and ice on the ground.

She is learning to play Uno.  When she plays one of the Skip/Reverse, or Draw cards on me she giggles, "I'm a goosey girl!"

Go play in the snow

Sometimes when Paul and Julia come home from school, I have to tell them to start on their homework immediately.  There is no time for play.  You need to finish your work first.

On Monday, I told them to go sledding immediately, and I meant it. Don't worry about putting your boots on, it's not to cold.  Just drop your backpacks and go.

Temperatures above freezing had made the snow especially slick.  The children could zip much further than normal.  They started their sleds right by the house, slid down the bank and across the icy driveway, then on and on gradually making it to the runoff on the north side of our property.  I laughed to watch Paul on his belly, facing backwards and pushing with his arms like an outboard motor to propel himself across the yard.

They took Petra with them and sledded for about half an hour.  Half an hour of active bliss.  Then Paul slid head first into some thorny grass in the runoff and it was time to stop.

Petra sledding on a smaller bank earlier in the day.

Paul and Julia waiting for the bus in the morning

Nonsequitor gratuitous Nathan pic

Paying attention

Steve and I were in the kitchen talking while our older two children were outside playing.  I heard a thump, and Steve went to investigate.

I heard Steve talking out the door to Paul and Julia for a couple minutes.  He came back and reported, "Paul didn't notice that Julia was trying to catch water drops on her tongue from the big scary looking icicles hanging from the gutter.  Julia didn't notice that Paul was kicking the side of house trying to dislodge the icicles. When I pointed out the error of their ways, they both backed away from the icicles.  And then I said, 'Hey, while you are out here...' and handed them the bags of garbage to put in the garbage can."

Thank you, God, for defending Julia's face.

Petra notes

Earlier in the season Petra and I were walking around our yard, and I showed her a sapling that deer had destroyed.  I explained that they may have eaten it or rubbed their head and antlers against it.  The trunk of the sapling was shredded and the branches were broken to bits.  Petra was impressed.

A few days later she showed me a toy in her room which had been disassembled.  She explained to me that deer had snuck into our house and broken the toy.  They rubbed it with their heads.

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I started telling Petra the Little Red Riding Hood story.  Reciting it from memory, I honed the story with each telling and retelling.  Petra's love of repetition allowed me to develop a pretty smooth delivery.  I kept the story as close to my memory of Grimm's story as I could.  A few weeks ago Google had a doodle tribute to the Brothers Grimm.   It was a pictorial telling of Little Red Riding Hood.  I called Petra to the computer and recited my story with Google's pictures.  I felt like ending the story with, "See?  Mommy's not just making this stuff up."

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Petra is resisting potty training efforts.  She has also decided that socks are a waste of time.  She enjoys playing tea party, and today we built a castle out of Duplos.

Nathan at 2 months

So our internet has been down for a little while.  And it is hard to type with sweet little dumplings in your lap or arms.  Plus I've been pretty brain dead by the time the kids are tucked in bed.  And the sun was in my eyes.

Here are some posts to make up for my neglect.

Nathan had his 2 month checkup today.  At about 22 3/4 inches long he is around 50th percentile on length. At 13lb 4oz he is about 90th percentile on weight. He is doing well with making eye contact, smiling at faces occasionally, sleeping at night (4 or 5 hours at a stretch at least once per night), and neck control.  Basically, he's just chubby and perfect.  

Yesterday I got daring and took Nathan and Petra with me to the grocery store.  He napped peacefully in the sling for the trip and we made it out before I ran out of steam.