Storage. What a strange concept. Purchasing or holding on to things for years and years and never actually using them...I think about my attic, filled with boxes of books from college, music books from my days of piano lessons, Christmas Decorations, clothes that don't fit, random decor that I change out once in a blue moon...things that we don't necessarily need or even love, but are just not parting with. No offense college, but we are probably not going to read those textbooks again...(did we read them in the first place? OF COURSE WE DID ;) ) But we paid a lot of money for them, and now there are new editions and these won't sell but we don't want to just let them go because of how much we paid for them...random things like that.
I've been thinking a lot recently about the concept of having too much and have been struggling pretty deeply with it. I have never been a sentimental person. There are very few things that I form an attachment to that I cannot imagine giving up;
1) My wedding ring, obviously
2) My Grandpa's Bible - filled with his post-it notes and writing
3) My antique bookshelf from my grandparent's lake house
4) Hubert, my stuffed black lab that I got in third grade that slept with me every night until I got married (Andy made me put him in storage :( )
5) My piano that was a wedding gift from Andy
I'm talking about things that if I never used them I would have no problem giving them up. What is the point of keeping things? I have never understood boxes of old things that MIGHT, but probably will not, be used some day...and yet I have them! It drives me nuts.
My journey with the 21 Day Fix Extreme has turned into something far more than I actually anticipated it doing so - within and aside from the actual program. The concept of giving up, and letting go. It's not just certain foods I'm [not] eating for the technical duration of the program, 21 days, it's been giving me the space to examine the importance of things, and it has actually made it easier for me to have the motivation to let go. It has been enabling me to shift my focus from food to things of more importance.
The following is a deeply personal reflection that is from my own experience:
I feel like this experience so far has been exceedingly appropriate, and completely unplanned on my part to start the 21DFX over Lent, but it has been a very significant one for me. In large part in the spirit of "giving up" things we love and denying ourselves of certain luxuries, fasting from things of little value, and shifting our focus toward practicing spiritual disciplines - traditionally; fasting, praying, and service (time, money, community, etc.)
I have heard of many different things being given up for Lent. Over the years I have heard of and have practiced some of these myself; meat, chocolate, television, sweets, alcohol, social media, spending money (other than on essentials), cussing, smoking, etc. The list goes on and on. In my experience in the tradition of Anabaptism we are supposed to REPLACE the time or focus on things we are fasting from with time and refocusing our energy on our relationship with God. It is SO easy to let devotions and prayer fall by the way-side when life is going on...honestly - and I don't think I am alone in admitting that!
But how many of us when considering giving up things for Lent have a thought-process that goes a little something like this: "I know, I'll give up meat! Good plan. No meat for forty days. I can do that. I do love meat. A lot. Can I do that for forty days? Do I really want to do that for forty days...what would I eat? Where would I get protein? Shoot, I need protein to live. Meat would not be a good idea. Maybe I should pick something I still love, but would be easier and less of a necessity...hmm...Bacon. That's more specific, I LOVE bacon so I'll give that up, but then I'll still be able to eat chicken for dinner or steak when I go out to eat, and I'll still have protein. That sounds better and more doable. I can do that. I love bacon. I won't eat bacon for Lent."
[replace "Meat" with anything in the above scenario.]
...
I am not alone right??? That has happened to me so many times! High hopes, high expectations for myself, and then water it down to make it a little easier. Here is the question - why NOT pick something that is difficult? Why water it down? Better yet, why not let the THING that holds your heart hostage the MOST choose for you...Sure Jesus wandered around the desert for forty days without food or water, but that doesn't mean I should/would/could/will give up _____, does it?...
One of the (many) things that I have learned from Andy who, though hasn't directly said to me "Hannah you should spend more time reading your Bible, " but rather, has been a beautiful example to me of spiritual discipline. He is so diligent in spending time alone with God. It is so inspiring to me, and a constant reminder to myself that it IS the most important thing, growing in my relationship with God. Instead of waking up and spending my first 20 minutes on Facebook, that is TIME that I could be spending in prayer, or reading my Bible - pretty much doing anything that is more important then Facebook.
So to bring it back around...yes food is important. I LOVE food. But is it really something that there are types of food out there that are important enough to me that I just cannot let go of? When I think about it that way it puts so much into perspective for me. I have to eat to live, but do I have to eat popcorn to survive?...Chocolate?...Cheese? No. They give me joy, but I do NOT need them...just like I do NOT need the large box of curtains I will never use currently in my attic, or the old clothes that no longer fit me...
After reflecting on this and the challenge I have had in my own journey even in the past week, I am choosing to be thankful for the opportunity and challenge to "give up and let go." Easy - it is NOT! And I think that is the point. If deprivation was easy it would NOT be called deprivation. During this time of "giving up and letting go" my prayer is that we can surrender the big and small of our everyday lives for a short period of time, and remember the big that is Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
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