Friday, January 22, 2010

My Little Pledge to All of You

I'm about to tell you something, not because I want your praise, but because I need your encouragement and firm grip on my accountability.

For the purposes of "offering up" a few special intentions (with one of these being for the dignity of the unborn), I am going to make some sacrifices.

While most of these sacrifices ought to be done with no one knowing (and so, for these, I will remain silent), there is one I wish to tell you about for the aforementioned reasons. By telling you, you will give me strength. And, God willing, He will let me succeed.

My sacrifice, for the next 30 days, will be to refrain from purchasing anything for my own pleasure or convenience. I will purchase only the BASICS that I need, or I will buy only for the pleasure and convenience of OTHERS.

I have done this before and have found it amazingly refreshing. It also sparks your sense of creativity, for--this past summer, when I ran out of trash bags--I became very creative with how to sort my trash, get stuff to the dumpster, and make good use of the little cheap grocery bags I always saved but never used.

I also ran out of hand soap and shampoo the last time I did this, and this forced me to get creative with dish soap and the thin little strips of the beauty bars I've kept when I've replaced them with full-sized ones.

And who knew that dental floss could be recycled? But indeed, when you run out and don't want to replace it, a single string of it can be washed, dried, and used again!

Pray for me that I may have a successful month and that I may remember to offer up these inconveniences for the intentions you have told me about and the ones that lay silently in my heart.