What's it for?

Quote du jour: We hurry through our meals to go to work and hurry through our work in order to "recreate" ourselves in the evenings and on weekends and vacations and then we hurry, with greatest possible speed and noise and violence, through our recreation--for what?
�Wendell Berry

I was speaking with a colleague about loss. The big losses of siblings and parents as we who are lucky enough to have them at middle age begin to experience. It certainly puts the question asked by Wendell Berry in perspective. What is it for? If I were to ask this question of myself every time I took on a new project or commitment - and re-read the quote as I did so - what would my answers be?

I have noticed that in the past few years, much of my personal life has been about divesting. (Although I did acquire a new spouse last summer) Launching the kids, readying the house for downsizing, letting go of old dreams and hopes that no longer fit. Work is taking on that frame as well. As the church grapples with the realities of the economic downturn and the consequences to the endowment income, we are earnestly asking the question - what's it for?

But church isn't the only place where one might reflect on our relationship with time, money and effort. Years ago, I wrote a sociology paper on the Black Friday phenomena. To do so, I rose early and went off to Walmart where I observed and interviewed a number of shoppers. At one point, I saw a sleepy, overheated, cranky pre-schooler being roundly scolded by their parent. "If you don't stop crying, Santa isn't going to come to our house. Santa won't bring you anything at all." As you might guess, those threats had the effect of magnifying the waterworks. What was THAT for? Bringing joy into a child's life? Christmas spirit? Not so much. But church isn't the only place where one might reflect on our relationship with time, money and effort. And yet, the parent involved started with the best of motives - to manifest love - which ended up corrupted by the cultural messages about money, consumption and tangibles. What's it for?

My mood has always been an indicator of balance or lack there of in my life. If I'm so stressed that I snap at my family or am rude to perfect strangers on the phone, then something is seriously out of whack.

It seems like the whole world is talking about how to reconcile reality with wish. Each of us will have a different answer to that question and each family has it's own values around time, energy and money. I'm not going to tell you how to use those things, but rather invite you to consider your values first and let the richness of possibilities become apparent.

(and here are some links that may be of use in that process)



Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community. http://www.uujec.org
Seventh Principle Project. http://www.uuaspp.org
Kids' Money. http://pages.prodigy.com/kidsmoney/index.htm
National Center for Financial Education, Children and Money. http://www.ncfe.org/index.htm
Take Back Your Time. http://www.simpleliving.net/timeday/
The Simple Living Network. http://www.simpleliving.net/
The Simplicity Forum. http://www.simpleliving.net/simplicityforum/default.asp
Free Our Time. http://www.shalomctr.org/freeourtime/
Time for a Four Hour Day. http://www.iww.org/projects/4-Hours/
Work to Live. http://www.worktolive.info/