Confessions of a Downsizer

Okay, I admit it: I have been obsessed with things, especially in this past year or more. For the last several years, we have looked forward to major downsizing. So we did it – moved from a rural paradise that requires constant hard work beyond our current sustained efforts, to a house half the size…

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Fully Simply Enough

“Enough” does not have to be barely enough or just enough – it can be fully enough! Growing Generous Souls talks about “an ethic of enough” as contentment (not complacency): the sense of sufficiency that prompts people to act responsibly toward others in gratitude for all they have received. Sometimes what is fully enough is…

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What Stuff Means

In The Power of Enough: Finding Contentment by Putting Stuff in Its Place, Lynn Miller has a great exercise for our personal reflection. It goes like this (my paraphrases): For each word on this list, write down what it means to you. There are no wrong answers. House Car Salary Food Clothes Cash Savings Retirement…

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From Transaction to Trust

What a phenomenal experience we had last week, when more than 500 people gathered to hear about the latest scientific studies and firsthand stories on the benefits of gratitude! Scientists from fourteen studies plus other presenters discussed everything from the chemical effects of gratitude on the mid-brain to its benefits in a range of relationships.…

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The Power of Enough

As we enter Thanksgiving and the gift-buying days leading up to Christmas, now is a great time to talk about what is enough. According to the consumer version of this season (in the U.S., at least), excess becomes our expectation, even our norm: excess food, excess buying, excess entertainment and activity. “Enough” is a word…

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Sample Annual Financial Commitment Programs

Go and See  – (Ecumenical Stewardship Center) Go and See is a Sunday morning mission fair inspired by the miracle of loaves and fishes. This festival approach encourages participants in a sense of discovery and wonder – discovering the gifts God has given us, and wondering at the joy and increase the Holy Spirit brings…

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Scripture Texts in “Enough” Program Guide

6 Key Financial Principles: 1. 2 Cor. 9:6-7 – Pay tithe and offerings first 2. Prov. 27:23f – Create budget & track expenses 3. Mt. 6:19-33 – simplify your lifestyle / live below your means 4. 1 Tim. 6:9-12 – Set up an emergency fund now 5. Prov. 22:7 – Pay off credit cards; use…

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Moving from Scarcity to Contentment

“If some is good, more is better.” That message echoes all around us, calling us to pursue more money, more things, more recognition, more power. Money is seen as the key to all the “more” we can imagine. At some level, this insatiable desire taps into a primal instinct on our parts: making sure we…

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The Power of Enough

As we enter Thanksgiving and the gift-buying days leading up to Christmas, now is a great time to talk about what is enough. According to the consumer version of this season (in the U.S., at least), excess becomes our expectation, even our norm: excess food, excess buying, excess entertainment and activity. “Enough” is a word…

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Enough: Discovering Joy, Simplicity, Generosity

In an intriguing article from Luther Seminary’s e-newsletter, Stewardship for the 21st Century, Linda Rozumalski writes about “the theology of enough.” Practicing this theology counteracts the attitude of acquisition, she says, and breaks the illusion that we own and control our lives and the things that we have. One way to develop this “theology of…

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