Application Station

My friends, Dawn and Bob, giving food to a man eating from the trash. Two very giving people.

My sophomore year of college, Sara and I led a freshman girls bible study. Since she was an education major, we were forever doing fun, creative crafts....One of which was the infamous "Application Station" on a wall of our Holcombe dorm room. It was a space (complete with a little train and rick rack trim) to write out something we would do related to what we had learned that week. Oh, how I wish sometimes I had a wall like that in our home to remind me to live out the things I have learned! I mentioned earlier that we have really tried to apply lessons learned in Guatemala. Here is how...

-I recycle. I have for a long time, but try to recycle much more. So much more, that I have actually been cited by the recycle Nazi in the form of notes in my bin for trying to recycle too much. Grumpy!:O) When I recycle it reminds me of our friends in Guatemala, digging through the dump for things to recycle for money...money to live.

-If I can't recycle it, I try to reuse it again (which I never did before). Take yogurt containers (#5), for example... They can't be recycled here (so says my note) so I reuse them as Tupperware. I think of the 3 abandoned boys, how they used those types of things as cups.

-We try not to waste food at home, in restaurants, etc. It reminds me of people that don't have food to eat in Guatemala and here in my own town. This only fuels my constant discussion with Phil about a deep freeze. We don't need one! We live 3 miles from Sam's for goodness sakes. We have stuff in our freezer from 1945, we don't need more of that! Maybe one day he will concede. Perhaps it is part of the hunter/gather DNA

-I try to turn off the lights more, not waste water....etc. This brings me to a big idea swirling around in my little head....That is, if we all just help other people, we become thankful and thoughtful about our own resources, THUS we become more green. It doesn't take perching in a tree for weeks, walking naked in the streets, running your car on old french fry oil...just being kind to our bro or sis. What an idea...GO KIND, that is what I say! The rest will follow.

-I've tried to buy the kids less stuff. I admit, I have used toys in the form of bribery for a sane grocery trip. And I'm not judging, Moms gotta do what they gotta do. It is just that I grew up with lots of stuff and am so bad about thinking I always need to buy something for the kids when we go to the zoo, aquarium, or wherever. Phil has helped me realize that the trip is the fun part. Time and attention is more important that stuff. I think of the kids in Guatemala that didn't have much at all and they were happy, just playing and being loved.

-We are slowly going through our things...decluttering. We feel heavy with all the stuff we have. More to keep up with, clean, etc. We are considering selling our house too. Maybe for something smaller. Now, we have 2 rooms we barely use. It just feels wasteful.

-This last one, it's the hardest for me... surrendering my schedule. It is what I long for, but a constant fight with my type-A, spreadsheet loving self. Today I had plans to work and catch up on things. This morning, I prayed, "God, let this day be for you." Well, maybe I should have said, "after my stuff...okay?" Because when Phil told me of a homeless woman that needed help, I knew that I had the day open for a reason. I felt God saying, "This is my day. Do you mean what you pray?" And so I got nothing I had planned done, but was blessed to spend time with this woman. I learned from her. A wife, mother and accomplished woman that just needed a little love. Don't we all sometimes, just need a little love?
Guatemala, was no doubt transforming. The people are what made it that way. My great friends David and Becky were serving this woman too. David devoting much more time than I and Becky hopping on line, getting information. These friends inspire me! The whole reason Phil knew of her was because they were all 3 at a breakfast, discussing plans for continuing our work in Guatemala.

1 Corinthians 4:2 says: "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." I believe this...To whom much is given, much is required. It is our blessing to have. My challenge, and I pray yours, is to live bigger than you, your house, your stuff, your life. Let God use you, your gifts, your talents, your resources, your time. It is our blessing to have.