forty days in the desert

Some of us are dying of too little, the rest of us are dying of too much. Amidst all the gloss and the hype we've become so preoccupied with getting that we find ourselves unable to respond to what has been freely given.

So to draw our attention to the much we have been given we are going to set about giving much up. If life is about leaving the world a better place than we found it, then we need to try and figure out what 'better' is.

Forty days at a time we're giving ourselves up, trading in a little that is temporary for that which is lasting.

Forty Days without waste

Recycling, Restoration and Redemption seem to have a lot in common. For one, when it comes to Recycling the capital R is preliminary for all helpful words that sum up practical advice regarding this topic (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rehome); ‘Re’ in fact has its root in the Latin prefix meaning ‘again; back, backward’. I suppose then it is not so surprising that with a little thought I find it difficult to think of these words as one completely distinct from another.

Recycling is about recovering and salvaging, likewise restoration is about fixing up and bringing things back to life, and redemption is about exchanging bad for good, trading ashes for beauty, about making amends for, and even liberating.

It is also not so remarkable, then, that I find it difficult to think of these words… these actions… distinct from my own being, of who I am and who I am becoming. Being part of a solution to a problem is all very well, but what if we could stop the problem unfolding in the first place?

What if being rubbish free didn’t just include being free of plastic and old receptacles, but also freeing yourself of selfishness, believing lies, of apathy and laziness? What if recycling and restoration was more than just putting cardboard in your yellow bin, finding new uses for tin cans and doing up shabby chic furniture…what if it was also about renewing your mind, redeeming the time in your day, and feeding your soul?

So here we embark on the mission of 40 days without waste.