Recycle, Reduce, Reuse: A beginning

♫And close the loooooop!♫ (Sorry, can't help myself!)

A Beginning
I've been re-thinking a lot of things lately. I'll admit it, I've been very lazy and purposefully ignorant about a lot of things simply because I didn't want to put the time and effort into even considering that my pre-conceived notions might be wrong or out-of-date compared to what I *do* know now.

As I learn about different issues, particularly in regards to social justice and the environment, I gain a responsibility to do something with that knowledge. But I haven't. And I want to change that.

Call me crunchy, call me a hippie, but I've been realizing that it is my responsibility to do what I can to minimize my ecological footprint on this earth. Being eco-friendly/green/etc is a matter of being a good steward of what God has given us. I wasn't really taught this growing up, particularly not in the Christian circles I was in. I was taught to be a good steward of money (tithe, save, etc), to take good care of the material things I possessed (don't dent the car, don't throw your toys). But there wasn't the same emphasis on taking care of Creation - which God specifically gave us to take care of.

To be fair, it wasn't completely ignored. My family went on backpacking trips every summer when we were young, and my parents emphasized that we were to leave every place we visited just as it was when we arrived (or better, if some less conscientious backpackers were there before us). We were taught to be respectful of nature and to enjoy it.

But materialism is pervasive in our culture, not to the exclusion of Christian culture (Case in point: how much stuff in Christian bookstores is sold just to make money? I mean, who really needs all that stuff?) I have fallen into that trap MANY MANY times also. All my life I've hoarded things. I still have birthday cards in boxes from grade school. I do not need to keep them. I have so much stuff that I need to sort through, it doesn't all fit in our apartment.

Lately, I've been finding myself in an odd place, both spiritually and mentally. For some reason, I've been captured by the fact that I need to simplify my life in a LOT of different areas and keep only the things that are beneficial, or that I truly love. All the rest I do not need and it just serves to clutter my home, my mind, and my spirit.

Since all these things have come up in my mind and as I've been pondering them, I've realized that there is a definite spiritual affect. I've hit a fairly low place in my spiritual journey, to be completely honest. I've felt very disconnected and haven't really been disciplined or devoted to nurturing my relationship with God. Not all my thoughts and ponderings are completely worked out yet, but I think there has been purpose in all this. After our Easter service Saturday night at Aqueous, I realized that this low point I've been going through is allowing me to start fresh in my walk with God and I have hope that as I point myself back towards Him (cause He's always there, whether I am "in it" or not), I am going to end up with a totally new relationship with Him, and a new identity in Him that is closer to the person He created me to be.

And that person is going to continue to take more personal responsibility for the social and ecological issues that are so rampant in this world. Setting aside all the debate, what does it hurt anyway? There are a lot of practical reasons to pursue simpler living as well (hello moving truck!)

I still have a lot of thoughts on this, particularly getting into specifics, so I will probably make this into a series as I continue to flesh things out.

Inspiration
Some links to blogs I've recently discovered that have been both inspirational and educational.

No Impact Man

Sara - Walk Slowly, Live Wildly
(Check out the pics of her family's small, but well utilized, living space on her blog and here on Flickr)