'They had everything in common'... It's time to share about the 'Sharing Project'!

So, its high time I told you about 'The Sharing Project'. I have been thinking about it for a while, but just sort of didn't get around to it, you know how it is. Tonight, I feel compelled to share, because I kinda think every church should have one. Its so easy, such fun, and well, just so biblical. For longer than I dare to remember I have been pondering how as a church we can 'share' our stuff. The early church 'had everything in common' (Acts 2v44) but in our individualised busy lives how do we do that today? Ponder, ponder. So, I raise the topic with my dear Women's Group, and we ponder together. After some toing and froing we decide that a Facebook page might be our answer. That night 'The Sharing Project@St Mary's Loughton' was born.

Basically, the Facebook page can be used to give things away, make request for things, offer to lend things and ask to borrow things. Over the last few months, hundreds of transactions have been made. Finished with your travel cot? Make a post, and if it is useful to someone they can say 'yes please', or words to that effect. If more than one person would like an item their names go into a hat, real or otherwise, and a 'winner' is decided. We have given away everything from seafood sticks, to shampoo, to clothes, to furniture, to plants, to crepe paper. Toys feature strongly. Even a Cath Kidston bag.  No money is involved, we're simply passing on stuff that we no longer need, to those to whom it would be useful. So many times, stuff has been posted that others really needed, and were about to buy, that I think God is enjoying this as much as we are. Yesterday, A posted that she had some unopened orange crepe paper to give away, amazingly this is the day before B is about to hunt around town for orange crepe paper for a craft project at toddler church! This sort of thing has happened so many times, bikes, TV units, hairdryers, its just fun, and a real money saving blessing! Sometimes people make requests and so often receive what they were after.

As well as giving things away, we are up for sharing our stuff too! We have a document on the page which details what we have to share. My steam cleaner has so far had three outings, and my bouncy castle went to a party. Inspirational Christian books and videos are inspiring lots of people rather than sitting on a shelf. We are also free to make requests to borrow things. Somethings you just need for a short period and probably wouldn't use again. I have recently borrowed blow up neck cushions, travel adaptors and have responded to a request for a booster car seat. Make a request and within an hour or so, someone has probably got one you can borrow.

The obvious benefit of The Sharing Project is that is saves us some money. For some, this is really significant. If you don't have much money, and you can receive what you need as a gift, it can mean a lot.  For others it might mean that more money is available, and perhaps that money could be used for Kingdom purposes. Our personal giving to our church is changed significantly because there is so much we are given. We are so blessed to receive, for instance, clothes for our children, and we are thrilled to be able to pass on the money that we would have spent on them for eternal purposes instead. However, there is no expectation of this. God loves to give us gifts just to bless us. And blessed we have been!

Another benefit of the Project is the building up of community. What starts in a virtual reality has to become real because the stuff we are sharing is, of course, real. So, the reality is, we all turn up at church with bags of stuff to give to people. Many people we will know. However, some we won't, and so introductions are made, bags given and friendships formed. People cross from one side of the church to the other to do this, its amazing! And so easy!

The fun gets even more exciting when we are able to bless folks we know outside of our church community, as a witness to the love of God we have received. Sometimes we hear of people who have a particular need, we make a request and are able to bless them. Recently we did a local mission, and went about practically loving people in Loughton. One team went to clean a ladies house. While there they discovered that her bed was broken. A request was made, a bed frame found, the man with the van offered to pick it up, bed linen and duvet sorted out, one person researched a good quality mattress and four people chipped in to buy it. The process probably took a couple of hours, and within a week the lady had a new bed. She has also started coming to church.

What has really compelled me to write today is a post made this evening. One of our church members, who has been coming for the last few months and who has very recently become a Christian, has finally escaped a situation of domestic violence and abuse, and has been rehoused with her three children. However, she has NOTHING to put in her house, other than her children's clothes. She needs everything. A friend of hers put the request out, she needs everything a house needs... I kind of chocked up when I read the post an hour after it had appeared. There were 26 comments. A few hours after that there are 69.  Everyone offering things that would be useful, chairs, sofas, beds, bed linen, toys for the children, a table, a new washing machine, fridge, plates, cups, cutlery, mattresses, cushion covers to be made in the ladies favourite colour, curtains, an iron, the list goes on and on. I know our church is full of amazing and generous people, and tonight I was so blessed to see it. This simple channel of a Facebook page means we can quickly and easily bless someone in real need. How else could we have done this? I'm sure there are ways, and I know the church would have been happy to provide some money to help, but this just seems so easy. Tonight the family rallied when one of its members needs became known.

All this makes me think that every church should have a Sharing Project, for all the reasons above. It is really easy to set up, and really easy to manage (we just delete our posts when the items are gone, or requests fulfilled, we also have a few documents for stuff that can be borrowed). For those that don't have a Facebook account we make posts for them. We have kept it just to church members, otherwise it would quickly become an all over town thing and the sense of community would disappear, however, we love to bless people outside of church who we know.

Please think about if you could start one, it really is great fun and a real channel of God's blessing in so many ways.

Please do share this with your friends, I would love the word to spread!

My current top three household tips

A couple of weeks ago I had a small but significant revelation. I was lying in bed, doing a bit of pre-sleep internet surfing, checking out some new blogs, when I came across a tip about having clear flat surfaces to enhance simplicity in one's life. I'm fascinated and drawn to simplicity in our complex world. It was a simple and understated tip...'clear your surfaces and leave a few nice looking bits out, plants work well'. I immediately saw the potential and being a woman who likes to get on with things, got up, donned dressing gown and headed for the kitchen. Two hours and well passed midnight later I felt like I was in a different room. A peace had descended, my kitchen had become a pleasant place to be. Gone were the piles of old mail, gone were the random things that just don't live in the kitchen at all ("Plastic ducks, why have you sat there for so long? Swim along! Hammer balanced on the spice rack, goeth home! Dead plant, compost in the composter!"). I rearranged, flung in the bin (ugly useless things mainly, I was stunned how many had taken up residence in my kitchen!), hid previously public things in private spaces, and cleared my surfaces. I strategically placed a few pretty things and the odd orchid. Lovely! The effect was significant immediately, but most fascinating to me is that it has lasted. It is sooo much easier to put things away when there isn't a pile of stuff it could join. I seem to clear up so much easier both while cooking and after meals, everything seems to take less time. Cleaning is much much easier, and far less intimidation. My head is clearer, and I find myself less stressed in the kitchen. Marvellous! Without really saying anything my family all seem to find it easier too. Clutter seems to breed clutter, and confusion, and stress. Honestly, clear surfaces are great, I highly recommend them. I'm slowly working my way through the house. I'm so into less being more! Costs nothing too! So, that is my current top household tip.

My next tip is everything needs a home. Everything. This is not really a 'done in an afternoon' type of job, more like months, but a bit can be done now and again and the benefits soon appear. If something has a home it is easy to put away, you don't have to think about it, you can just put it there. Hopefully, so can everyone else (I know, this is where the tip is possibly flawed!). You will also know where to find it again, saving much precious time and frustration. It might even mean that you and your family don't miss a plane, or a train, or a party. And it might save a few arguments. It has to be worth it. I find all sorts of containers help the process along, they make brilliant homes, defining space and preventing cross contamination. If they are pretty so much the better! This is also a money saving tip. If you know where something is, you will know quickly whether you have enough of it, or whether you have to buy more. How many times have I spent ages looking for sellotape, couldn't find any, bought more, found the sellotape I couldn't find when I came home, and now I own loads I don't really need. Obviously, this could also apply to expensive items, meaning it could cost you lots of unnecessary money! Anyone lost a passport and had to pay for a new one?

My final fave tip, is the 15 minute tip. I can do (almost) anything for 15 minutes. This is a great way of getting particularly dull stuff or stuff I'm resisting doing done. It is a manageable amount of time, not intimidating, but not insignificant. I choose my task, set my timer and get to work, knowing the timer will ring shortly. Because I am up against the timer I am focused and work hard. The timer goes off and I stop. If I haven't finished I can do another 15 minute slot later. I am always amazed at what can be achieved in 15 minutes.

Really I love these tips because they are about making life simpler. I don't want my focus to be on my home and my stuff and my cleaning, they are so not the point but I find they can demand more of my time than I am wanting to give. These tips are about lessening the demands on us from these things, and so creating more time and emotional space for us to be who God created us to be and do what He created us to do.

I would love to hear your top tips, please do share!

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Making Space for Jesus

This week I have begun a good old clear out, something I love to do! However this time it comes with a spiritual dimension, which has added to my joy in throwing out, giving away, recycling and freecycling. For a while now my mental space has been growing smaller, you know, that space where you get to dream and pray and get excited about something, and pray and plan and dream some more, and then perhaps even put it all into action. I used to do that a lot, all the time. But somehow the mundane but important has begun to take up all my dreaming space, my hearing from God space. We all have to do it, shop, cook, tidy,  clean (well, I think about that more than actually do it!), fill out forms for school, tidy, help with homework, iron school uniform, tidy, find shoes, its endless, endless, and somehow I struggle to think of much else. I know there is another world out there, but I just can't seem to reach it!

Anyway, I finally got around to asking the Lord what I should do about it, if He had any wisdom on this matter for me. And yes, straight away He began to remind me about not storing up for ourselves treasures on earth (Matt 6v19-21). Oh, how I have stored up stuff! I might not have considered it treasure, but how I have sorted it out, tidied it, looked for it when it was missing, bid for it, hidden it away in places until it was needed, kept it 'just in case', moved it all again, shopped for it, imagined times when I would have plenty of time to use it and so kept it for that special day. Suddenly I realised just how much my stuff has stolen from me, my time mainly, but also my energy, money and sometimes my patience ("Am I the only one that actually puts things away around here, grrrr, grrrr, grrrr"). Whenever I see something in the wrong place (all the time!), or a bit missing to a game it (very often!) it occupies some of my mental space and robs me of some of my energy. 

Later in the passage, v 21, it says 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also'. I had always thought 'heart' meant strong desire towards something, something I really love. And I didn't think I really loved my stuff in that way. However, I have learnt that 'heart' can also mean 'mind'. Yes, I realise that my mind is on my stuff a lot, I don't want it to be, because I don't really love most of it, but just by the sheer volume of stuff we have it requires far too much of my attention, attention that I would rather be giving to 'seeking first the kingdom of God', in whatever form that takes for me. 

So, this time its serious. A lot of stuff is going. And a new attitude is arriving. An attempt to flow against the consumerist tide that we swim in. Already my head feels a little clearer, already Jesus has begun to plant a new dream in me, just for me. It feels so much better!