7: an experimental mutiny against excess. Jen Hatmaker takes 7 areas of excess in her life (clothes, shopping, waste, food, possessions, media, and stress) on for 7 months and essentially blogs about the experience. Chapters on stress and food and waste didn’t speak to me: these are things I don’t struggle with or have already made peace with. Her chapter on waste in particular was somewhat shocking to me as her discovery of the joys of recycling seemed about 20 years behind the times. Do people really still not recycle?? Is it a blue state/red state thing? Oh golly. But her chapters on media and shopping and possessions really provoked me with thoughts like this one:  “I don’t want to consume the redemption Jesus made possible then spurn the methods by which He achieved it. Jesus’ kingdom continues in the same manner it was launched: through humility, subversion, love, sacrifice, through calling empty religion to reform and behaving like we believe the meek will indeed inherit the earth. We cannot carry the gospel to the poor and lowly while emulating the practices of the rich and powerful. We’ve been invited into a story that begins with humility and ends with glory; never the other way around. Let’s align ourselves correctly, sharing in the humble ministry of Jesus knowing one day we’ll feast at His table in splendor.”
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