From Richard Foster's writings..
- Buy things for their usefulness not their status value.
- Learn to give things away to someone who needs them more than you do - reverse the habit of accumulating.
- Learn to enjoy things without owning them. ... parks, museums, libraries or nature.
- Develop a deeper appreciation of the world about you. (Enjoy views, the gifts of nature (fruit, vegetables) the moods of the weather, the variety of people, growth and seasons, health and your own body.)
- Resist buy-now-pay-later schemes.... only get involved if they are truly helpful.
- See yourself as a citizen of the planet. - Questions of poverty and environment are distorted if seen in local or national terms.
- Waste watching... where you have a choice: resist obsolescence; choose the longer lasting. Question advertising (In his book he suggests we sit in front of TV adds or printed adverts and say "You have got to be kidding!)... resist wasteful packaging; repair.
- Question your own lifestyle - not your neighbours.
- If possible, work out your way of life with the help of a group. (Family, friends, study group.)
- How can we measure our real needs (by standards of our neighbours or by needs of the poor)?
- How can we be joyful without being greedy or flamboyant (e.g. hospitality)
- How can we be good stewards without being over-scrupulous?
- How can others benefit from what we have (our home, our car and other possessions)?
When I was doing my theological training I had a college Principal, E L (Lyle)Williams, who was one of the wisest men I know in this whole area. He used to speculate with house sections (blocks) and then give the profit he made back to some charity in the community. He would say with a wink, "I plan on making as much money as I can because if I have got it I know the devil hasn't!" He lived relatively simply, but was exceedingly generous in his giving. The outline of a sermon I heard him preach went like this....
- Check how you are making your money whether in your job or in investments. What does making money this way do to other people? What impact does it have on people and the environment etc.? What does making money this way do to me and/or my family?
- Check how we possess our money. We should possess our wealth with a certain detachment. We should possess and control it, rather than being possessed by it.
- Check how we spend/use money. We can live relatively simply, keeping a check on how we rationalise luxuries as necessities. We can live in such a way that we can share our surplus within the community.
One last story. Many years ago as a young parson I spent about an hour in a hospital room with a dying patient, Mary. She had lived a tough old life and in her last years suffered heart troubles, multiple sclerosis and finally had to battle cancer. I mostly sat holding her hand and when she wanted to talk we talked. As she looked back on life she talked about her family, her friends and the charitable groups she had been involved in. As I left her room and said "Good bye" (I think it was the second last time I saw her) I went away feeling that I was ministered to. I came home and walked into the lounge where the family was watching TV. Emotionally exhausted I sat in a chair and blobbed. But when the adverts came on I had to leave the room, they so disturbed me. They seemed so superficial and ludicrous! All the things they were saying I needed, just seemed like crap, compared to the depth of the relationship and conversation I had shared with Mary. Most of the stuff we are told we need does not really make life any better... they just kid us that life will be "good" if we only bought....whatever. But ultimately, when the crap of life is washed away, such as in this final hour with Mary, they don't amount to a hill of beans. It is people, relationships and the quality of love shared that makes life real living.
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