7

I finished reading 7 by Jen Hatmaker today. Since about a quarter of the way through the book I've been recommending it to anyone who will listen. It's that good. It has been very eye opening and inspirational for me, not to mention it is a super easy read. Jen Hatmaker is hilarious and there were several times I laughed out loud while reading this book. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess chronicles Jen's experiences as she spent seven months focusing individually on seven areas of excess in her life and in our consumer culture: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending and stress. For example, in month one she only ate seven foods, in month two she only wore seven items of clothing, etc... There is so much that I took away from reading this book and so much I am still processing. A main point is that all this excess could instead be going toward people who don't even have their basic needs met. Some facts that I cannot stop thinking about include: * 25,000 people die of starvation every day * if you make $35,000 a year you're among the wealthiest 4% of people in the world; if you make $50,000 a year you're in the top 1% * there are 7 Christians for every orphan in the world * 66 children are infected with HIV every hour Talk about perspective. That information is overwhelming but also transformative as to how I want to live my life, what I find important, and how I want to spend my time and money. Even before reading this book, I feel like God has been emphasizing over and over to me to love Him most and to love others as myself. This is so simple yet often so challenging. This book reminded me of those priorities 100 times over. There is so much hurt and brokenness in this world. It can be overwhelming when I think of all the needs on a large scale, but there are so many ways to get involved and help those in need around us as well as around the world. It makes me think of a favorite quote of mine from Mother Teresa, "If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one."

There is so much more I could say about this book, but I think you should just read it yourself. Then we can talk about it! :)