Just responding to an interesting conversation. I think it’s good for people to return to sewing and doing things a bit more off-grid, but it won’t be for everybody.
Homegrown living Summit, look that up it was interesting. I was responding in this post to an ad and I think they have some good Concepts. There was some controversy of course in the replies as they’re always will be and I’m just throwing my two cents okay maybe a little more than two sense, into the conversation.
Katrina Kepf – interesting conversation and Concepts. Everything has a balance.
All convenience is not bad.
I tend to look at things from the perspective of a Bible background. Please understand I was raised ghetto Brooklyn, but in a bit of a dichotomy as my father was a peacemaker and we often spent time at the United Nations. I was blessed to have a very Multicultural upbringing and I am blessed to this day with people from all walks of life. Every generation throughout the time of humanity has its challenges, it’s blind spots, it’s strengths and its weaknesses.
When people see a lot of hardship over a long period of time, convenience doesn’t seem like a horrible thing that some of us see it being now. The Bible from my perspective brings a really healthy balance. It starts off with teaching that Humanity was created by God to walk in relationship with him as father. When that was severed and through the Fall In the Garden of Eden Humanity’s Spirit died, we were no longer in that relationship. We died spiritually and that was passed down generation to generation and the Earth itself which was to be cared for, even the term in Genesis was that Adam and Mankind was to take Dominion of this Earth. Elsewhere it says the Earth he has given to the Children of Men. Meaning God has given the Earth to the Children of Men.
But without being in connection with the creator of the universe as father there are many disconnects and imbalances that have weaved their way in over the centuries and still do today, regardless of what a person believes. God is love. The fact that we live in such a beautiful planet with so many incredible amazing things is living proof of that. As it says I think it’s in Proverbs or Ecclesiastes I forget somewhere, oh actually I think it’s in the New Testament…
…every house has a builder.
You might see Stones washed on the seashore in a shape of an A and go wow that was an amazing coincidence. But there is no rational human being that will see Stones spelling out the national anthem and go wow what an amazing coincidence.
I have yet to meet any human that looks at a building and goes wow that’s just incredible how that just happened to be there.
Obviously no intelligent design was there, no loving intent, it just came to be.
And when we are disconnected with the first relationship that we need, everything else gets really out of whack.
But the world was created first and foremost for relationship, First with God and then with people, family community.
So every generation has blind spots. I don’t mean little itty bitty blind spots I mean really big ones. And every human does too, including the person in the mirror.
But in community and especially if we are in relationship with God, and that is a fine line because many can claim relationship with God, I can claim relationship with God but until everybody faces him face to face, we will see whether that claim is true or whether it is not.
But for here in the now there is need to prioritize love as God has ordained it. Love is patient love is kind. It doesn’t Envy it does not boast it’s not proud. It’s not rude. It is not self-seeking. It doesn’t Delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. I’ve walked in my life where I’ve seen that love and I’ve seen things that are everything opposed to that love. Things that cause great harm and destruction. When we are greedy and self-centered, convenience takes on a different meaning. Convenience can sometimes be a healthy thing not all bad.
I’m quite certain are forefathers and for mothers, forgive the typo, were not objecting for example to the convenience of having a well instead of having to hike down to the Stream. I mean hey it was free exercise; they didn’t have to pay for it. A sign that should be on every stairwell, in my opinion…
And convenience can be a good thing in its place, but when convenience or materialism or anything takes the Precedence above relationship then destruction comes.
It might not be visible right away, like cutting a Christmas tree from its roots it’s green for a while, but eventually the decay comes.
So the problem is that as culture and Humanity grew in knowledge, it did not choose the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is a very beautiful thing. It’s not the fear of an abusive father, but the fear of a good loving one who tells you don’t touch the fire because it’s going to burn you. A loving father gives instructions to teach the child how things work best instead of letting them just figure it out for themselves with broken fingers or arms. And yes there is a time to allow the child to figure things out for themselves but not when that figuring causes destruction and harm to themselves or others.
But the instruction manual wasn’t meant to be applied without the instructor.
That may be the case when we’re putting together something from Ikea, but that’s not how God intended his instruction manual to work. More like a love letter. It will be quite meaningless, or perhaps of mild interest to most but to the intended beloved it is everything. And it holds everything that is needed.
So what was missing as we grew in what you call convenience, was relationship was being removed. And it is now removed even more and it’s, forgive me, hellish.
How many times do I go to Google for a recipe instead of calling my mother-in-law like I did every other day for years? And now 3 months is gone by. And yes everybody feel free to give me a really good scolding. But I’ve had health issues and we were moving and there’s other reasons…
But there was always a reason to connect with my family because I didn’t know how to always do things and so I connected with the relationship. And I grew and I learned.
I found it a little ironic that you’re using a YouTube video to help people stop using YouTube videos. That one sort of struck me as weird. Maybe do training sessions with a group of people, and let them almost MLM style, pass the message around with live training.
But as you oppose convenience and want to teach people not to do things the easy way, tongue-in-cheek please know I’m saying this with a smile, you’re using YouTube to promote yourself and you’re doing what is convenient and easy. No guilt no condemnation, but just be real about it. Why? Because perhaps you want to make as much money as possible, that’s not a crime. Or perhaps you want to reach as large an audience as possible with your message, also not a crime. But then a large group of people have to be in quasi relationship with you to gain the information instead of developing deeper relationships with individuals.
So yeah relationships one-on-one.
I love that you are bringing people back to doing things by hand like sewing. That was a major issue and a major reason that we have 10,000 homeless in the greater Denver area where I live.
I’ll never understand some of the blindness in humanity. So much knowledge and so often so little wisdom, and yes LOL I’m quite certain the person in the mirror could fall into that category as well.
But when the manufacturing age came around we didn’t set any limits on it. We knocked out meaningful work for about a third of society and continue to do so not realizing🤯😭 that the more we do things the easy way the less work we are providing for people and the more those who can work will have to provide for others. It’s a vicious cycle.
I have the utmost admiration for the anabaptists, the Amish and Mennonites, and the off- gridders.
But people have to understand brain patterns are very difficult to change. If you don’t think that’s true, give up coffee, chocolate and one other favorite item for the rest of your life. No big deal just don’t ever drink coffee again or eat chocolate again, or whatever it is that is very special and important to you that is not needful for life….
It is very difficult to get Humanity to change direction because of the way our brain patterns work.
We now have three at least generations that have been raised and very well trained at staring at a screen from age two and a half till they are 18. 365 days in a year 24 hours in a day, 12 if we are counting working hours. Multiply that by 18.
We can’t change brain patterns quickly.
When I was ill and in bed for 4 years the first year of my recovery my adult children had me sit outside in the grass and play in the dirt.
I attempted to grow things and actually had a full few bulbs actually come up and I just sang songs and looked at the pretty trees and sat and and played with the worms.
And then we got to the point where I could stand up again. My body had lost the ability to easily walk because I had been in bed for 4 years. My brain patterns had transitioned and I could sit there and tell my legs to move all I wanted but they weren’t moving. Eventually little by little I got to wear I could move and get to the bathroom, then 5 minute walk then 10.
Right now I can put a four to six hour day in and I’m really excited about it. That’s standing up moving. I can stare at a screen and talk all day long and play piano all day long but movements is difficult for my brain. So if you have a generation that’s raised staring at a screen, it’s not that they’re never going to be able to transition they will be able to transition most of them not everybody. But the baby steps that are going to have to happen are equivalent to raising a child from infancy to 18 years of age.
Baby steps encouragement not condemnation or judgment. And the moment we’re tempted to judge just give up your Starbucks and give that money to the poor for the rest of your life, no problem it’s so easy. And you know it’s the right thing to do LOL if if we cannot give up our greed, it’s strange that we should ask others to give up so many other things.
But anyway I think you have a lot of good Concepts and I wish you the best.
I’m hoping there will be a movement of people purchasing clothing that are made to size. That would bring a lot of meaningful work back into society. I also hope there is a movement of people rejecting AI and so many other things that are destroying meaningful work over and over again from our society.
Just because we are smart and we can and it’s fun and interesting, doesn’t mean it’s going to benefit Humanity or even ourselves in the long run.
Anything that we cannot put limits on eventually will destroy us, with one exception. We do not need to put any limits on love for God or for people.
So eating is a good thing but if you do not put limits on your eating it will kill you. My singing is a good thing well I suppose it depends on who’s listening, but if I was to sing non-stop no food would be cooked, nothing else would be done and I would be homeless and die.
The world is meant to have balance but that balance is meant to be in community. So, for example, the right brain humans like myself that truly will be homeless without the grace of God and others that see the value that we bring even if we can’t hold down a nine to five, FIT. Beautifully. And purely left brain people desperately need those of us that are right brained or they will die of boredom.
Those balanced individuals that are both left and right brained High creative as well as capable of balancing a checkbook, need the other extremes to keep them from being completely ridiculously prideful and thinking they are something, when they’re nothing…😉🙃 if it’s offended you know that you are guilty of pride LOL because we are all nothing if we don’t have love and love is not prideful. It’s not proud. It sees in balance the value of every living person. Precious. Beloved. Treasured. That is who we are in God’s eyes.
Love God. (As He defines it, not as we define it. Obeying him doing what he desires, taking our time energy money and resources in Pursuit of what he is passionate about. Which is pretty well laid out in the instruction manual. Take care of the poor and the oppressed. Forgive your enemies. Worship God Alone, because nothing else can rescue or save, certainly not eternally.
Love people and let convenience be subjective to that motive. When that convenience can truly help ourselves to help others and not be a long-term detriment, then convenience can be okay.
But most of us now are questioning the sanity of microwavable meals all day long.
And a friend of mine who has worked with autistic children for years and is an expert has a theory that one of the reasons autism increased when it did was because that’s when Mom started microwaving meals. Convenience.
And the reality is we do not have to have two incomes. You can be poor and have one income and count the relationships more than all the other things. Live simply. The Amish are great, wonderful examples of that, but each lifestyle has its strengths and weaknesses and a lifestyle or culture is no reflection or accurate measure of the love of the individual or community.
Pride and greed know no economic or cultural barriers. You can have a generous homeless person or you can have a greedy homeless person. You can have a loving caring multimillionaire that is generous to the poor, and you can have one that is greedy. And an absolutely beautiful story, true story, of a multi-millionaire that was not greedy, was told by my pastor in tears. He told the story of an elderly woman he had visited for years that had Alzheimer’s. She lived in a meager house with meager means, it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t anything you would call wealthy. And for many years he brought her communion and prayed with her and then she went to be the Lord. And a number of weeks later the church was contacted by her lawyer. Her estate had within her will a million dollars to be given to the church in a million dollars to be given to the school affiliated with the church. She was a millionaire, a multimillionaire she was most certainly not greedy.
The endowment shocked everybody who knew but long before she had gotten Alzheimer’s she had put into place a plan. Isn’t that just a beautiful story? The church and the school have gifted financial advisors and the money is being used properly and wisely not all of it but once but the proceeds and the Dividends are used for the increase of the school in the church. And we would some of us be jealous over that, but why? Because the one who owns all the cattle on all of the Hills is our heavenly father and we have all that we need for life and godliness.
And if you have an accepted Jesus Christ, today is always a good time. It’s quite simple, but there is a level of commitment if you have a mind that is capable of doing that, it’s simply believing that he died on the cross for your sins, that this is quite true in real as the death of hundreds and thousands of Martyrs have passed down what we call the Bible from generation to generation and even today many are dying not because they need to die so they can be saved, but because they know they are saved they are willing to die so that others can know the love of God. A true Christian martyr does not die so they can get to heaven. They understand that Christ’s death has already given that freely. A true Christian martyr dies so that others can see that this love is true and real. And others might come to repentance in turn from false Idols of self and other gods of this world to the true in living God who created the universe and desires all to forever be with him in joy and peace.
But God gives Grace to where we’re at and it’s not wrong for people to have two incomes so long is that is what is needed for the humans within the circle. Always going back to the Bible, the Proverbs 31 Woman was a working woman.
She was highly intelligent and she ran a business over time. But her family was well provided for and she wasn’t so worried about what everybody outside thought of her, no she found her approval within the home. And when the husband is loving the wife like God commands and the wife is respecting the husband as God commands, not with abuse on either end but true love, then it’s a beautiful thing. But when things get out of whack then there’s Grace and I haven’t yet met an individual family or community that haven’t desperately needed that Grace, certainly not the person in the mirror!
Okay well that’s my ramble, wishing you the best. – Faith
Letters to a Friend 