40 acts: Round up

Back in February I signed up for the 40 acts Lent challenge. This involved daily activities to encourage me to live a more generous life. It seemed like a brilliant idea, and for the first few weeks it went really well. Every morning I logged on to the website and considered the daily challenge. Was it something I could do that day or did it need more thought? 

Some of the activities were part of my daily life anyway. I have frequent no car days, I regularly buy Fairtrade and I try and build some creativity into my daily life. On those days I would close the computer with a smug expression. Other days, however, were much harder. "Organise a social event and invite a new person?" Social events? It is much as I can do to stay awake after 8pm! "Plant a tree"? Pardon? On which ground? Unfortunately the number of unconquered challenges grew too high and for the last few weeks of Lent I guiltily avoided the website.

However I have now gone back and read through the challenges again, and there are some which I will be doing, but at my own pace:

• Clear out my wardrobe. I badly need to do this! There is a good article on how to get started here.
• Say no to plastic. I already use reusable plastic "bags for life", but it turns out that "life" is about 5 years, and my bags are disintegrating. Rather than buying replacements I am thinking about making my own with my very basic sewing machine skills. It can't be that hard!
• Donate blood. They actually use my church for this, so I have no excuse whatsoever. Must get onto it.
• Live on a fiver a day. Actually, to do this properly I would need to do it for at least a week, and include the rest of the family, so this will need some discussion and negotiation. This may require yet more thought...

So all in all it was a worthwhile experience, and it did make me think more about my faith and the way I live in society.

40acts - loving where I live

I've been diligently following the 40acts Lent challenge this past week - I've been diligently logging on to the website and reading the daily challenges - and that is about as far as it has got! The theme was "loving where you live". Some of the challenges were easy, such as reading the local newspaper, but others will take some thought and work. One of them was to "become a mentor", which isn't something you can do overnight, and will take a lot of thought and prayer. Another difficult one is "visit your local" which is about using your local shops and community venues. Unfortunately this is a little late for where I live, our local shop is a T*sco Express and our local coffee shop is a C*sta in a T*sco Extra!

Today's challenge is much easier for me; to buy Fairtrade. Much more my cup of tea, (literally)! One of the main reasons I shop in the supermarket I do is that is so much easier to buy Fairtrade. They manage to provide Fairtrade "value" bananas at 14p each; the equivalent (non-Fairtrade) banana at their nearest rival is also 14p. So why don't they switch to Fairtrade?! I can feel a rant coming on, so will desist for the sake of my blood pressure!

Being thankful

So far I have had a nice gentle start to the 40acts "Do Lent Generously" Challenge. The first day's challenge was to put together a "generosity kit" so that I can be generous when out and about. Now, my handbag is known as my Mary Poppins bag as it contains everything I need (although not, sadly, an aspidistra!). I have been known to dispense plasters to commuters on the Paris metro and witch hazel to mothers of bumped and bruised toddlers in playgrounds. So I felt I had challenge one well and truly covered.

Mary Poppins reveals her generosity kit!

The second day's challenge was to make something for someone I love, so I made a card for a friend who has been really supportive over the past few weeks. Today's challenge was to make a list of things I am thankful for, so here goes:

• I am very grateful for DH, who supports and loves all the family even though his health is not great.
• I am thankful for my kids. (I don't always feel it when my house sounds like a cross between a monkey enclosure and a wrestling arena, but I am thankful. Honest.)
• The community I live in. I live in a new town in the crowded South East of England. It is not a rural idyll, nor particularly beautiful. However I have fantastic neighbours!
• My health! I rarely get ill, and usually bounce back when I do. I know that I am very fortunate in this.
• My friends, both real and virtual, "the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom". (Proust)
• My local library. They probably keep me solvent!
• My church as we journey with God together.

I could go on, but I suspect you would get bored!

Doing Lent Generously

 

I come from a church tradition which doesn't really follow Lent, and the thought of giving up chocolate for a month brings me out in a cold sweat. (Maybe that is the idea!) However, this year I have decided to be a bit more intentional about Lent and have signed up for the 40acts: Do Lent Generously challenge. 

The main idea, according to the website, is to make Lent a "preparation for a lifetime of big-heartedness". Sounds good to me! There are daily challenges to be more generous, ranging from "Have a car-free day" to "Smile". I don't intend to blog about each one, but there may be the occasional update!