How to Progress towards the Homesteading Lifestyle while Living in the City
By Meg LundRELIANCE ON GOD
One of the advantages of the homesteading lifestyle is that it puts a family in a position of trusting in God for their security, rather than in a false, man-made sense of security. There are many things that a person living in the city can do to foster and acknowledge his trust in God.
Let go.
Every day place everything in His hands: whether the car won't start, you run out of gas, you get a pink slip, your dryer broke, you are faced with illness, etc. Know that in all things God is carefully watching over you and each and every event of every day has been orchestrated by a loving God who is drawing you closer to Himself. Completely surrender your life to Him.
Exercise your trust muscles.
Come out of your comfort zone for God. Tithe. Drive to an uncomfortable part of town in order to help someone. Visit the sick and the imprisoned.
Pain. Hunger. Poverty. Loneliness. These are things people fear, and the media plays on these fears, giving false answers to sell products. Big Business does not offer true answers to these problems, but actually escalates them. God has the answers to our troubles. Look to Him and He will provide the path.
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
Turn off the noise.
Invite the quiet of the homestead into your life. Keep distractions out of your life. Turn off the tv and the radio and put down the newspaper. The world will go on without you. You don't need to monitor the world's problems. Let your own life be trouble enough. Live each moment fully with and for God.
Observe.
Start to pay closer attention to little things around you. The expressions on your child's face when you interact with him. Your dog's happiness in greeting you. The smell of your homemade food simmering on the stove. The color of the sky and the brightness of the stars. It is in the whispering of the wind that we hear God's voice.
LOVE OF GOD
Praise.
Acknowledge God's loving hand in every moment of every day and praise and thank Him for that.
Prayer.
Allow His presence to fill you with His Love. Meditate on His life, and how everything was ordered in simplicity and Love.
Action.
Having observed His created world and having meditated on His Love, now be willing to be His Hands. Recharge constantly with Praise and Prayer.
FAMILY
True bonding comes from spending quality time together. Do not seek to be entertained as a family, but rather do things together that bring deep satisfaction, as well as fun.
As a vacation, visit the country. Don't take the city with you, but empty yourselves and take as little as possible. Camp out or find a cottage that has rustic provisions. Go as remote as possible.
In the evenings, pick up knitting, crocheting, and other simple, quiet crafts for rest and relaxation. This is a wonderful mode in which to share family conversation and togetherness.
Work on family projects together. Remodel the house (try to use natural materials) or plant a garden as a family.
COMMUNITY
Build community wherever you are. Support your local businesses. Know your neighbors and make an effort to find out if they are in need and help them out. Bake a cake for a new neighbor, or a new baby. Bring a pot of soup and homemade bread to the sick. Offer your extra household goods or garden produce to a needy neighbor. Help a neighbor with an outdoor project just to get the exercise and build a friendship.
Encourage working together with your neighbors or parishioners. Do your own landscaping as a parish community for the Church, put on a pot luck to help the poor, clean the Church, work with the neighborhood on a community rummage sale, etc.
ENVIRONMENT
Be aware of how you spend your money. What are you supporting with your dollars? Is your money being spent to foster continuation of slave labor in other countries? Is the item that you are buying toxic to the environment, both in the way that it was manufactured and packaged and how it will be disposed of when you are done with it? Buy used items rather than new whenever possible, and do without whatever you don't need. Be honest with yourself in regards to needs vs. wants. Do not support social mores that require wasteful spending.
Limit car driving. Car pool, wait until absolutely necessary before going out on a shopping trip, drive as small of a car as possible, or consider alternatives such as walking.
Use natural soaps and cleaners. Do not take drugs. These not only pollute your body, but they pollute the environment as well. The hormones from birth control pills are in our water supplies, as there is no way to remove them from the water. Do not use pesticides or artificial fertilizers.
Do not support Big Business. Know that the majority of food is produced by 3 companies and do all that you can to avoid purchasing their products, as they have proven themselves to be concerned not for the good of our land and animals and health, but only for profit. Find out what is in the food that you are eating and how it is being grown. Purchase food from local growers as much as possible. Buy meat direct from farmers and have it processed yourself. Buy in season and put it up yourself to save toxic packaging, to save money, and to be sure of the quality of the food you are giving your family. Grow a garden. Buy bulk whole grains, cold-pressed oils, organic dried fruit, and organic nuts and seeds and cook from scratch.
THE ECONOMICS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
The Body of Christ has a different view of the world than the capitalistic supply and demand model. Driving competition and consumerism do not belong in the Christian heart.
Competition has been made virtuous by our Godless society. From the time we are young, we are taught that we are being good when we "do better than our peers." Winning at sports, bringing home the prize, being the top student, etc. are all things that make us feel "good," while someone else has had to lose, or feel "bad." Isn't it possible for us to achieve our highest potential without having to step on someone else's head in order to get there? Can't we be pleased with all of the varied talents that each individual brings to the Body of Christ without comparing one to another? How can we compare a head to a toe? Or a finger to a leg? Yet, aren't they all necessary? What can we do to teach our children to respect all of the gifts of others? To allow God to do the judging?
Everyone is excited when "consumer spending is up" in our economy. We're told that we're doing a good thing by spending, because it creates more jobs. If it is so good, then why do our souls feel so empty when we buy more stuff? Whenever we make a purchase, we should consider not only our own stewardship of the property that God has entrusted to us, but also whether or not our purchase may be cause for another's envy.
Even in the case of gift giving, a store bought gift may be the cause for another's shame. They may be embarrassed that so much money was spent on them, or they may feel bad that they now have this expensive gift that they don't really care for, but feel obligated to hold on to because it "was a gift." Are we guilty of cluttering our lives and the lives of our loved ones with gifts?
Consider the difference in a homemade item as a gift. The gift can be made of natural materials which cost little or nothing to the environment, and will properly decay when their usefulness is over. They can express our creativity and can be a pleasure to make. The person receiving the gift sees not only the gift itself, but the time that we spent making the gift, which greatly honors the person.
RESPECT FOR LIFE
Consider the reasons why people are limiting their family size. They don't feel that they can afford them, financially, emotionally and physically. They are too strained with worldly "needs," too tired to deal with undisciplined children and feel too sick to imagine reproducing. These things can often be surprisingly easy to overcome.
Children should be welcomed as a gift, and an asset. Do not consider your children as financial burdens, and do not force them to be such. Give them the dignity to be truly needed by the family. There are many things that children can do and are happy doing which will help the whole family. Start them young in learning skills such as caring for animals and hand crafts. These will pay off in their teenage years and give them life long skills.
Lovingly, firmly and consistently discipline children, pray together, spend quality time together, hug each other and laugh together for peace in the family and emotional stability of all its members.
Healthy children are far easier to raise than sickly children. Take responsibility for the health of children, recognizing that the most important thing, physically, for a child is to be in an environment free of toxins and stress, with natural, wholesome food, pure water and lots of outside physical activity. Begin to provide for a child physically even before conception, by having both parents detox and cleanse, and build up good health to pass on to their children.
Consider the future of the world that you will be passing on to the next generation. True Respect for Life means that we care that life continues in a healthful way on this planet. If the choices that you are making today are ruining the future of our children, rethink your lifestyle and ask God for the grace to change it.