7: I have some 'splaining to do
7: I have some 'splaining to do

7: I have some 'splaining to do

From the orphanage in Kenya: a cross that a child has written on what they are thankful for. © 2013 . All rights reserved.

7: I have some ‘splaining to do

So here’s the thing: I’m about to start a 7-month-long adventure. That’s right. Seven months. And since I’m sure it’s going to affect my life in ways that I’m going to talk about on twitter and facebook and instagram and oh yeah, when I see you in person – I thought I would simplify things. Instead of you wondering what in the world I’m doing, and me fumbling through an explanation, I would just write a post! Easy peasy!

Only now, I’m a little nervous.

I’m worried that you’ll think I’m weird, or holier-than-thou, or not nearly holy enough. That you’ll think I don’t have good enough reasons, or decent answers for your questions. Or that I could just be doing better things with my time.

(None of this is a reflection on you, you precious thing. It’s all my crazy. Promise)

Enough shuffling around; I’m going on a 7-month fast. Or more accurately, 7 1-month long fasts. Each month relates to a different area: food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending, stress. I read this wonderful, funny, touching book about faith and real life last summer – Jen Hatmaker’s 7 – and I thought yes. I want that. I want to do that too.

It’s as simple as that, really. There are a lot of great reasons to fast, but my main one is that I want to gain some clarity in areas of my life where it is far to easy to be thoughtless and lazy. I want to truly enjoy what I have, to let go of what I don’t need, and to hold very lightly to the rest.

So now there’s a whole bunch of us starting this thing February 1st. If you see me talking (or crying or ranting) about 7, or #7FN – well that’s what I’m talking about (the FN is for Fellowship North). Feeling crazy? Jump in and join us too!

Details if you’re interested: first up is food, which means I’ve picked 7 foods I will eat all month long. Other people are doing other things: avoiding 7 foods, eating the same 7 day food plan repeated 4 times, etc. For me, this month means my frozen fruit smoothie, oatmeal, eggs, chicken, rice, apples, and peanut butter. I’m still on the fence about coffee. If you’re looking closely, you can see that this is really 7-ish: there’s usually more than one fruit in my smoothie, and I may be adding spinach to it as well now that I’ve been roundly chastised on FB. 🙂 The point is not so much to follow rules for the sake of following rules (only 7! No more no less!) but to set some boundaries on my eating habits for the sake of getting my attention – and hopefully driving it elsewhere.

PS: I have a feeling my instagram feed is about to get real boring…

PPS: Fasting is an interesting subject, but one that’s not often discussed – so if you have a question, I’d love for you to ask in the comments. I’ll do my best to ‘splain…

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2 Comments

  1. I am so excited to watch this… out of curiosity and amazement.
    This will have a huge impact on your life and I can’t wait to watch that happen.

  2. I LOVE this! I am a freak for life experiments! Yes, weirdo. We just did a small fast here, but the idea of 7 months sound amazing. I ordered the book and can’t wait to read about your progress! And instagram is for more than food! – Jacqueline

3 Trackbacks

  1. By Seven Foods | Chino House 9 Feb ’13 at 5:25 pm

  2. By strong – the dramaticthe dramatic 25 Feb ’13 at 3:01 pm

  3. By 7: month 1 is done – the dramaticthe dramatic 4 Mar ’13 at 2:01 pm