See https://www.livebelowtheline.com/ for more details
The idea is that you live on £1s worth of food per person for the five week days. Some people get sponsored to do it, we are going to give away what we saved on our normal food shop.
Obviously, we had £20 for the four of us.*
We did this to help us walk in the shoes of others and to remind us of how full our lives are.
We also do it to help us see how much we take for granted and how our shopping is often done without reflection.
One of the Urban expression values are:
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We realise the importance of living uncluttered lives, holding possessions lightly and recognising that all we have is to be at God’s disposal.
Doing this for 5 days is in some ways tokenistic, but he has really challenged Alison and I once again about the way we shop and uses the amazing resources God has given us.
Is our shopping uncluttered? We'll we've learnt some more lessons this time and will be asking God to help de clutter even more.
The other challenge of this task is how it is not always best to spend less, crap food is cheaper that healthier food. Cheap food is often mass produced and so I probably very unethically produced.
De-cluttering is more that just saying no- it's about having the time to think about the choices I'm making with the things and people god has given me and he impact of those choices.
May Jesus help us be content with what we have and my what we have be a blessing to others.
* the kids had school meals in the week because if our resources were that small in the uk it is likely that they would qualify for free school meals. We did this because we felt low in energy and ratty at the end of the week and didn't think it wise to put a 7&9 year old through that.
