“My heart is so hungry to raise children who aren’t addicted to the American Dream, but to the kingdom of God.” A quote from Jen Hatmaker’s article in this month’s issue of HomeLife. If I didn’t think that you needed more explanation and context I would have left you with that thought and allowed you to explore how to apply it.  Just under a month ago, Val and I were re-introduced to the parenting process again from the beginning and I have really stopped to think more about how we are raising our children.

More than anything I want my kids to know and understand that there is so much more to life than all this world has to offer. At the most basic level I want my children to understand they were created for this world but created for God. To really understand that everything you “need” is only because you “think” you need it. For seven months the Hatmaker family committed to live with less. Here are the 7 areas in which they lived with less:

• Month 1: Food – Only ate 7 kinds of foods.
• Month 2: Clothes – Only wore 7 outfits.
• Month 3: Possessions – Gave away 7 things a day.
• Month 4: Media – Took away 7 forms of media.
• Month 5: Spending – Only spent money in seven places
• Month 6: Waste – Sought to recycle; gardening, thrift shopping, composting, recycling, etc.
• Month 7: Stress – Paused for prayer and worship 7 times a day.