365 days to ?

Everytime you time you go to the big Tesco these days, you get a two-for-one coupon for the cinema upstairs. Yesterday, after a lazy day of crepe eating for brunch, Bible studying, The Office watching, hours of napping, and leisurely walking an hour to Novy Smichov, Rachael and I took advange of one of our many coupons to see Julie and Julie, the new flick about Julia Child and the 365-challenge her cookbook inspired in one 21st century fan. Julie sets the goal for herself that, within one year, she will master the 500-some recipes in Julia Child's cookbook. It isn't easy for her, of course, and her sanity, her time, her job, and her marriage are all put on the line. But in the end, she finds great rewards for completing the task she set out to do.

So I was thinking last night, what is something I could be doing for one year, every single day. Or rather, what is something I could not be doing every single day.

I'd thought about one particular challenge at the beginning of the month and have so far been following it. After this movie, though, I want to make it official: So, beginning with this past October 1, for one year I am setting the goal that I not buy any clothes or books for myself. This will include clothes, shoes, and jewelry, and books for pleasure (not the textbook for the Czech course I hope to take next term).

There are several points to this challenge: 1) It is no secret that I like to shop, and as a result, I really do own more than enough. I want to be more practical and to use what I have (which I really like) with regularity. 2) I no longer have spare money that should be used on clothes or books anyway, especially when I have plenty -- I need to invest the little spending money I have into more important things. 3) I realize that even as I claim to be "poor", I really have so much more than, I don't know, 80% of the world. I should be using my money, therefore, to help others or, at the very least, to not widen the gap between the haves and have-nots. I am merely a caretaker of the money God has given me, so I shouldn't be spending it on silly things when I can get by with what I have. 4) I just finished reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love (fantastic read -- go buy, um I mean, check it out at your library right now!). In the book, Chan brought to my attention that, if we are really to love our neighbors as ourselves like Jesus tells us to, we should probably be giving away at least half of what we make. For me, that is awfully hard to do when I always am going to stores or putting pressure on myself to look up-to-date and trendy...and for whom? It doesn't impress God, and His opinion is the only one I should care about. So I will stop spending money on myself that could be used elsewhere -- to serve others, for instance -- and will hopefully, in the process, detach myself from this need to impress others all the time.

Already, I know this challenge will be difficult. I admit it, I am a bookaholic; I own five or six times more books that I haven't read than those that I have read. I can't resist a bookstore, even when I am making use of library cards on a regular basis. I also have been noticing that I don't have the right shoes for walking around here in Prague. I really like heels, which are no good on long journeys over cobblestone, and I like flat slides, which will be horrible once the weather gets cold because I can't wear socks with them and because they're not moisture-proof. So already I am tempted to go buy more shoes. I am convinced, though, that I can make it the year. I have things to read and I have at least something to put on my feet, and I need to be thankful for those things.

So here's to a year of less material spending! 11 days down, 354 to go. September 30, come quickly!

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Today, I begin another 365 challenge: the One-Year Bible. This time, I am doing approaching it from a chronological perspective, reading about the events in the Bible in the order that they happened. I will also re-read the entire New Testament by the end of the Fall, in order to make sure, at the beginning of this one-year plan, I get my fill of both Hebrew Bible and New Testament. So, 1 day down, 364 to go!

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