Here are some challenges for 2014, perhaps just pick one or two and pass them on to friends 14 Hopes for 2014 1. SQUASH WASTE. Half the rubbish, half the food wastage, half the size of my input to the dump. It has to go somewhere after it goes in my bin if I don’t recycle it. I aim to cut it by half by the end of the year. 2. POWER CUT. Facebook and Twitter are all great tools, but sometimes they take over our lives and technology uses up a lot of electricity. I will make small changes in my everyday use of technology? Turn things off when I’m not using them, recycling or give away what I don’t use or just have a break from them sometimes. 3. READ ALL ABOUT IT. I aim to understanding the impact we are having on the environment more. I will try to understand the inconvenient truth of global warming and its impact on the future. I will not pretend it isn’t happening & my part in it. 4. DISCOVER REAL BEAUTY ALL AROUND US. I aim to reflect and pray about things, to stop and wonder at things and to say thanks to God. To adopt an attitude of gratitude for what I have, the things I’ve been blessed with and the environment I have the pleasure of living in. 5. LIVE A LIFE THAT IS SIMPLE… AND STILL BEAUTIFUL. Simple living does not mean ugly living. I want to be free like the lilies and sparrows – free of consumerism and clutter and noise– and be surrounded with wonder and beauty. And I want to make cool things out of rubbish. 6. SHARE. I will share how living simply or wasting less or switching off the computer or my phone has liberated me. I will tell others that they can also be free like this too. 7. SPEND MONEY ON OTHERS RATHER THAN ON MYSELF. I hope my budget, community budget, and organisational budgets reflect loving our neighbours as we do ourselves. 8. LEARN A NEW SIMPLE SKILL. Grow herbs, make soup from leftovers, fill used glass jars with jam or chutney that I’ve made myself, make something out of wood, garden, sketch, write poetry, paint. Do something simple that is beautiful and doesn’t require much money to do. 9. JOIN THE SLOW FOOD REVOLUTION. We’re all suckers for fast food. In 2014, I want to jump-off the fast food train, and do something crazy – learn to cook food again. I know, so trendy… but some trends are good. Hope to grow as much food as possible, and share as many good home-cooked meals as possible with as many hungry people as possible. 10. BELIEVE IN MIRACLES… When we live in utter dependence on God we see God provide in miraculous ways. I want more of that… not more poverty, but more of that kind of faith. 11. PRACTICE RESSURRECTION. Make ugly things beautiful and bring dead things back to life. Paint a new mural in your neighborhood. And make some cool stuff out of rubbish. Look for God in the unlikely places. 12. INTERRUPT DEATH. Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of violence, bullying, war and other mean and ugly things. Sign petitions, write letters, speak up, stand out, be a voice for the silenced in our world. 13. PAUSE BEFORE PURCHASE. Before buying that big thing I want or the next thing on my list of indulgences, stop and ask ‘Do I need it and how will it impact my carbon footprint?’ 14. GET OUTDOORS OFTEN. Enjoy things like birds and shooting stars. Take someone to the beach or the mountains for their first time. And regularly get my hands into the garden… so when I type on the computer I can see dirt under my fingernails.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 20:59:29 +0000
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