100 Thing Challenge
Recently I was reading my weekly Time magazine and I found an article that intrigued me. Apparently a guy with a personal blog created a personal goal of simplifying his life, called the 100 Thing Challenge. (Time magazine snarked that in addition to paring down his possessions, he apparently also lost the "s" in 100 things). David Michael Bruno created this challenge to fight the rampant consumerism in our culture. He is donating, selling, and in some cases, merely packing away all of his belongings in an effort to keep only 100 things.
He's created rules and explains them on his blog, which you can read here. I applaud his efforts and admire his stand against the materialism that seems to obsess our society. Part of the reason that I was so drawn to this article is that a missionary's life is almost always a similar example of triage: what you want to keep forever, what you need just for the next term, what you can't take with you because of luggage/shipping restrictions, what you can sell to other missionaries, what you can donate to the ministry or the nationals, etc. There are belongings that were formerly mine scattered all over the world, and with only one or two exceptions, I don't regret losing or leaving them.
Paul tells us in Phillippians 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."
I don't think Paul even had 100 things, but he knew what mattered.
He's created rules and explains them on his blog, which you can read here. I applaud his efforts and admire his stand against the materialism that seems to obsess our society. Part of the reason that I was so drawn to this article is that a missionary's life is almost always a similar example of triage: what you want to keep forever, what you need just for the next term, what you can't take with you because of luggage/shipping restrictions, what you can sell to other missionaries, what you can donate to the ministry or the nationals, etc. There are belongings that were formerly mine scattered all over the world, and with only one or two exceptions, I don't regret losing or leaving them.
Paul tells us in Phillippians 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."
I don't think Paul even had 100 things, but he knew what mattered.