This month has been interesting. I didn’t do it like I was supposed to. This was Possessions month and I was supposed to give seven items of mine away every day.
Here’s what I did instead. I went through my house and collected two hundred items (as opposed to two hundred and ten) and gave them all away at once (and as opposed to doing it daily). Here’s the thing. I just moved five months ago. Which means that five months ago I threw out, gave away, left behind or burned about fifty percent of my belongings. No joke. I don’t live in a cluttered house. I have so many empty storage spaces, closets and cupboards, people might think they need to give me stuff. (You don’t.) I’m like Old Mother Hubbard with bare cupboards, except my dog has plenty to eat so don’t worry or call Doggie DCFS on me. We’re fine.
So it was kind of a big deal to give away that many items that just five months ago I kind of thought I needed. And it was freeing. And it felt great. I happen to love throwing stuff away (I am constantly throwing stuff away that I actually do need) so I knew this month would be easy for me. And because of that, I changed it up a bit.
I decided that on top of giving away my possessions, I would give away myself and my time in prayer. So I chose a person to be the focus of my prayers each day of this past month. I wrote their name on my calendar, I let them know I’d be praying for them all throughout the day, and then I prayed.
Here’s the cool thing. The number of people who told me something to the effect of, “I can’t believe you’re praying for me today…such-and-such is going on…this was the perfect day,” absolutely amazed me. Without knowing it on my end (though God knew it going in, of course), I had chosen to pray for people on job interview days or days when they were being hit with spiritual warfare or days when they desperately needed a word of encouragement and then a husband would just so happen to send them the best email ever…on my actual prayer day. I chose to pray for people on their birthdays. I chose to pray for people who don’t like me, for people who hurt me.
Now, I’m not saying all these great or “coincidental” things happened for people just because I was praying for them, and that these things wouldn’t have happened had I not leant them my mighty prayers. What I am saying though is that I believe prayer matters. What I am saying is that I felt more connected to the person I was praying for because I prayed for them. What I am saying is that when I prayed for someone else it got my mind off of myself, where I tend to dwell just a bit. What I am saying is that I felt more in tune with God because I felt like we were partners on some cool stuff going on in the lives of people I love. It felt really good to give myself away more intentionally in this way.
Which brings us to month four: Media. I already hate this month and it hasn’t even started. I don’t want to talk about it. This might imply that I’m super attached to Facebook and Twitter and HGTV and texting and magazines and you can think not so good thoughts about me, but you’re sitting here reading this blog, so I’d get off my high-horse if I were you. Okay, sorry…see the bitterness from impending media separation anxiety is getting to me already. Maybe it’s your turn to pray for me. So, you know, I don’t just yell at people all month long.
As of Monday, I’m going radio-silent. Ish. Happy 7-ing.
I’m praying that the Lord will abundantly fill the vacancies left behind by media. May God grant you insight and encouragement during this time. And thank you for being so inspiring.