Starting a conversation...

I've gotten a lot of feedback on my post on socially responsible living. I've recieved some great encouragement and some good advice. I thought that I'd use today's post to pass some of that advice on to the rest of you readers.

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Once upon a time Chicken Little was happily clucking around her little yard when something plopped her on the head.  She looked up, didn't see anything and concluded that the sky must be falling.  Completely in a panic, she started running around in circles screaming, "The sky is falling! THE SKY IS FALLING!" and getting everyone in a tizzy.  They formed a committee, decided to take the problem to he king, and set out, getting the whole kingdom in an uproar along the way.  Half way there, they passed a mamma sparrow who quickly jumped out of her nest and lay on the ground with her feet as high in the air as she could possible stretch them.  This made the whole hysterical mob stop in their tracks.  "What ARE you doing?", asked Chicken Little. 

"Holding up the sky!", said Mamma Sparrow.

"You can't hold up the whole sky by yourself!", chidded Turkey Lurkey.

 Mamma Sparrow replied."You do what you can."

This story has been my inspiration for a lot of what I do.  You do what you can.  I can't save all the children, but I can addopt one.  I can't feed all the world, but I can donate to the Food Pantry, World Vision, and World Hunger Day.  I can't witness to the world, but I can witness to those put in my path, and I can support missions.  Etc....

You can't change this screwed up world either, but I am so proud of you for doing what you can.  I am praying that through you and specifically, your blog, we will all do what we can to stop the abuses that uphold our decadent lifestyles.  We can all buy less new stuff, and buy more second hand.  That doesn't solve the problem of unfair labor practices, but it it takes away some of the demand and frees up our money for more giving.  We can all give up a meal or two out of a month and donate that savings to a good cause.  We can all volunteer more, give more, pray more, and buy less/kinder/smarter.  We can all become more informed about the sources of our purchases.  An interesting challenge would be to go for a week, or month, or season without buying anything new, except food and medicine.  Another would be to have meatless mondays and donate the savings to the food pantry.  Or, the adults could have a fasting day and donate the savings.  Our older children can be challenged to go on new toy fasts, and some children can have a Birthday Party where the guests bring donations to a charity instead of gifts. No one but God can fix this screwed up planet, and one day He will.  In the meantime, "You do what you can."  so STREEEETTTCCCHHHHH

- Veronica a.k.a. "Mom" :)

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I've been thinking about your post since I first read it. I completely understand (and relate to!) the feeling of not knowing where to start. That said, I think you start where you are.

Pick your most versatile coat, and donate/give away the rest. Go through your summer clothes, separate them into clothes to keep and clothes to share. You can always do something like that in phases - after a few weeks, you can decide if you need to release more of what you've kept. :)

Make it a goal to create one extra meal for the freezer each week, so that when you have a day that you 'can't make supper', you can pull that meal out. You could donate the $$ saved to a good cause. I know a lot of families who eat meatless part of the time and donate the money saved by doing so. I also know many gardeners who 'plant a row for the food pantry', meaning they grow a little extra to share with those in need.

I guess what I'm thinking is that one person may not be able to fix it all, but each of us can do something. When we do that, we gain momentum, and we find new ways to align ourselves with God's will for our lives. The most important thing is to do something today. You can't do it all at once, but if you do something today, then you have begun.

Blessings!
-Laura at TenThingsFarm


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This evening I have just finished writing a blog story on forced labour (for next week) and then I find your piece. We have been thinking along the same line. It breaks my heart when I read of the millions of people in the world who are living in terrible conditions whilst we in the west complain about everything but lead a life of luxury.

We give money to World Vision - both to support a young girl in Bangladesh and helping young girls who are victims of prostitution (caught up in the sex trade). There are many ways you can help, it just depends on what you want to do. 


- Joluise at Stop...have a chat


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My notes:


These are some great tips, and I'm going to implement all of them into my lifestyle!


I'm noticing a common thread here, and I totally agree - there is only so much that one person can do, but I am responsible for doing that much. I think so many of us fall victim to perfectionism when trying to do the right thing, be that eating right, keeping a clean house, or fighting for social justice in the world. We give in to the mindset of "well, I can't do it all, so I'm not going to do anything." We are responsible for doing our part, no matter how small. I try to keep in mind that I'm not doing this just to make difference in the world, because it can be discouraging how small a difference that is sometimes. I'm doing this so that I can be above reproach and so that I can know that I'm not contributing to the problem.


Living above reproach gives opportunity to bring about change in another way. When we are living a lifestyle that follows our convictions, we earn the right to share those convictions with others. This is one of the biggest ways we can make a difference. By living differently, we open the door to share why we live this way with others and invite them to do the same. It's a grassroots change, and can spread like wildfire.


I also realize that I have a huge responsibility to raise my children to have this awareness on their hearts. I want them to learn how to make decisions with the mindset of bringing God's Kingdom to life here on earth. I want to multiply my impact by the number of children we have.


I've got a stack of books I'm working through trying to educate myself - so I'll be writing some reviews/recommendations and sharing what I'm learning in the coming weeks. Do you have any recommendations for me? Web sites? Blog posts you've written? I'm sharing this new lifestyle on my blog so that we can all learn from each other and challenge each other. My goal is to start a conversations that leads us all to change.

This post was shared at Little Natural Cottage, Raising Mighty Arrows, Gnowfglins, Food Renegade,