The price is wrong

Renting is a funny thing, especially to a man who loves his lawn. There has been a few events this week that have prodded the grey matter and all seem to be pointing in the same direction. Firstly the wife and I bought some furniture, an outdoor table, and an indoor table and a rug. We love them all and spent very little money but what staggered us was how easy it was to spend money. If we were setting up a house the old fashioned way (by buying all our furniture and not revamping cast aways that is) we could easily have spent $20,000 in one good day.

The second thing happened while I was watering the lawn, and thinking about how I would mow it again in a few days then give it a good feed with some fertiliser, and maybe find a way to remove a stump to improve the coverage.

As I gleefully plotted the stumps demise I was hit by two new thoughts. I realized that; i. regular people don’t think this much about their lawns and ii. I’m only renting, this isn’t even my lawn, mowing will be so much better when I finally own some land.

But the third event, the one that really made me take notice was when I walked past this sign.

‘Happiness for only $99‘ who would have thought, all this time struggling through life, seeking God, seeking fulfillment, trying to love and be loved, when all I needed was a $99 treadmill. I chuckled at the absurdity of this sign for a few moments until I realized that I actually believed it, only I was putting a bigger price tag on it.

I was thinking happiness was $20, 000 worth of furniture or deluding my self into thinking a man could ‘own land’.

A friend of mine is a Scottish Laird. He received this title because he is a recognized land owner in Scotland. What most people don’t know is that he owns a square foot of swamp, which was given to him one Christmas by his sister. This may seem like a farce to many of you, especially if you happen to be Scottish nobility, but I’m convinced that my friends Lairdship is no more of a stretch then a being with a lifespan of 80 or so claiming to own land that has existed for countless years and will continue to be there long after memory of that person has faded.

I have found some great perspective on this topic from C.S Lewis who writes:

"Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that is 'finding his place in it,' while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of really being at home on Earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old." -- The Screwtape Letters P.132

"The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell, and we must keep them doing so. Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they 'own' their bodies -- those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another! It is as if a royal child whom his father has placed, for love's sake, in titular command of some great province, under the real rule of wise counselors, should come to fancy that he really owns the cities, the forests, and the corn, in the same way as he owns the bricks on the nursery floor." -- The Screwtape Letters P.97-98

The morning after I found the sign advertising happiness I woke early, made breakfast as the sun rose outside my window, then spent the day enjoying Gods creation with great friends. Happiness doesn't cost $99, Its been given to us already.

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. Psalm 4:7

Good tools, Great friends

There is a strange side effect of loving both golf and cricket. I’m sure it is a side effect also shared by avid croquet players, 75% of retirees and the occasional horticulturalist. I’m speaking about the unavoidable love of lawn, and in particular well-kept healthy lawn.

The move was done and the furniture (all saved form death row) looked great. But I found myself now with a lovely lawn to care for and nothing but a pair of scissors to do it with. I looked into buying a lawn mower but simply couldn’t afford one so I went on the hunt for one that was being thrown out.

Now last Sunday was my final day at my old job, and our final day at our old Church. After the service a friend of our, who is responsible for most of the beautiful gardens around the northern beaches and a fellow lover of lawn, came up to me and said something along the lines of: “Nick I hear you’re after a mower. Now I do know a few people who are throwing them out and I could get you one of those, but if you want to do a good job, your going to need a good machine…and I want to buy you one.”

Half an hour later the mighty Victa had joined our family.

My wife and I were blown away by the generosity of this family and the whole Church that we were leaving.

But my friends comment got me thinking. I’ve spoken before about the joy of doing things yourself, and the satisfaction of taking pride in what you are producing and now I’ve realized this includes the tools we use. But there is only one reason for having good tools and that’s to build something good with them.

Now I love my lawn and will greatly enjoy taking care of it. I really do believe in leaving a place I live better than I found it. But the greatest tools any of us possess are not found in our sheds, or our desks or in our kitchens. The bible reminds us that we are “Fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139, that we all have an mind blowing amount of potential and talent and we are called to do something with it.

Planned and Perceived obsolescence.

As our move approaches, I am time and time again blown away by how great it is to be married to someone who shares my values, and approach to things of this world. The latest realization came while we were driving to Church, the wife was in the middle of describing a little antique breakfast table she had seen in a shop and wanted to buy. Mid sentence, she paused, looked out the window and asked me to stop the car. She quickly hopped out and returned a few seconds later clutching almost the exact table she had been describing to me, only this one was not purchased from an antique store but found discarded on the side of the road. It was then I realized it was council clean up week in the area surrounding the Church, the time when people purge their houses of unwanted possessions. (also the time when penniless pastors furnish their homes).

As I looked down the street I was staggered at the amount of waste, rubbish and discarded items there were. There were literally piles and piles stretching all the way down the street. The piles were mostly made up of two things: Rubbish, e.g. broken furniture and old suitcases, or Perfectly good but out of fashion furniture, e.g. little antique tea tables and retro leather briefcases.

Council clean ups happen about 6 times a year so this mountain of waste had only taken a few months to accumulate. It was then I realized just how mush we are at the mercy of planned and perceived obsolescence.

These days products are made to break. We all know about it, we all complain about it, but we all continue to purchase, break, and replace products at an alarming rate. If however our products are not breaking in time, producers will work overtime to convince us that the product is useless despite it still functioning at 100%. The most obvious example of this perceived obsolescence is fashion. Where last years shoes are suddenly completely useless because Chucks were so last summer….

The bit that worries me most is that we simply do not have the resources to continue to consume at this rate. As it is Australia has one of the largest ecological footprints per capita in the world. We are using the treasures of this planet faster than they are being replaced. God looked at his creation and declared it to be ‘very good’ (Gen 1) he also gave mankind the responsibility of caring for this ‘very good’ planet. Dose our consumption reflect this charge?

Personally I want to set the agenda for how I consume. I want to buy products that last, and if I do want to get rid of something, I don’t want it to become land fill.

- for more info check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

Fruit of your labour

I'll admit that this thought was triggered by a not so awesome purchase, yet the experience took me through to a very positive realisation and a great mindset from which to begin 2011. It began like this. My wife and I were at a wedding and had some time to kill between the service and the reception. We found ourselves sitting in a little kiosk watching the sun set over the surf at whale beach. This spot, inches from the sand is possibly one of the most beautiful and prime locations for a cafe in Sydney. Being a lover of coffee and the beach I was pretty excited at this point so I quickly ordered a latte and settled in... 10 minutes later my world crashed down (yes at times I grossly exaggerate) as I received this in place of my latte(see above pic).

It's not that I got a bad coffee, (well it kinda is) but its why I got a bad coffee that got me thinking. You see I've realised that there is nothing better than working for something and achieving it your self. Since getting into making coffee I've learnt that it is actually really simple. Keep a clean machine, use good fresh beans and milk, and watch and care about what your doing. But so often these rules go completely out the window, and cafes who's primary purpose is to follow these rules, completely ignore them and serve you a nice hot waste of $3.50.

Now Im no great barrista, but I'm working on it. My coffee doesn't look beautiful yet but it tastes awesome. Proverbs 22:29 says; Do you see a man skillful in his work, He will stand before Kings. In my time I've met a few people who were just awesome at their jobs and took pride in what they did. A piercer and a bus driver from New Zealand, a barrista from the corner cafe in Pennant Hills and a few others. These people have stuck in my mind for years because they cared about what they were doing. If we want fulfillment, if we want to honor God, then lets care about what we do. Be it flying planes, cutting film, writing code, or making coffee, greatness doesn't come by what we achieve but by how.

Downshifting...well, Sideshifting...

One of the things I absolutely love about my wife

(thats her -->) is that she shares my passion for a simple life. We try to always take hold of the promise that we are to have life, and have it to the full (john 10:10), and for us having life to the full means not filling it with to many things. Clive Hamilton calls it downshifting,
a system where people fed up with rampart consumerism seek to reduce their possessions, work hours and stress levels opting instead for a fulfilled and simple life. The beauty of it for us is that we decided we wanted to live this way while we were newly married students with the bare minimum of possessions (for someone in the top 3% of the worlds richest people that is). We shared a little 1 bedroom apartment while we both finished our studies, furnished it with recycled furniture, spent less than we earnt and prioritized time with each other over extra shifts.

Now we are about to move to a new house with lots more space, which means we are going to need a little bit more furniture to fill it. Things like a dining room table, that we had happily gone without before, we are soon going to need. So we are on the look out.

It is amazing how much perfectly good furniture gets thrown away...its even more amazing how much nice and handmade furniture gets thrown away to be replaced with flat pack furniture that will break within 3-4 years. These are two little things I have filled my holidays with one is an old set of draws that we found on the side of the road, and the other is some stools/bookcases/whatevers that my dad and I put together out of an old Red Gum bench.

lots of fun, good for the planet, and free...what more could you ask for?