KV Organics

seeking restoration of sustainable life... personally, professionally, & spiritually

intentional downward mobility

Blessed Earth

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Reading Matthew Sleeth’s book, “Serve God, Save the Planet,” was transformational for me and for our family.  As I poured through the chapters, it was as if everything that I’d been sensing, thinking, and learning on some semi-conscious level for years suddenly came to more vibrant life.  I think I could literally feel neurons in my brain firing all over the place as everything God had taught me or molded into my being to date began to connect and forge stronger, more cohesive bonds.  I am still in awe of how it all fits together, and how He is continuing to piece it all together and teach me more.

This “green” journey really is a never ending one – there is always so much more to learn in this amazingly complex and beautiful world. A funny analogy came to my head the other day when I was trying to describe the present state of my brain to my husband who so patiently helps me sort through all my thoughts.  You know those multi-colored yarns, where 6 inches or so of color suddenly turns into a 6-inch section of another color and so on?  It’s as if each unique color is a different topic, category, compartment, issue, interest, hobby, passion, or gifting that God has put into my life and being – but it’s all one continuous yarn.  And right now, especially during this joyous and crazy season of loving and nurturing preschool aged children, it often feels like my yarn ball is sitting in a jumbled, useless heap; however, I know that God is working to weave it into the bigger tapestry of His global story of restoration.

Like the Sleeths, we are finding greater depth and connection with God, people, and all of creation through this journey of creation care and downward mobility, but they are definitely better at communicating the experience than we are because they are much farther along the path!  🙂  I highly recommend checking out their books, their Blessed Earth ministry website, and/or their story in this video below.  If you’re in the SJ/Philly area this summer and want to join us for a book club discussion on “Serve God, Save the Planet,” click here for details.

Matthew Sleeth’s Creation Care Journey from Matthew Sleeth on Vimeo.

Downward Mobility

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I always want to be very careful about how I say this, and I hope you’ll hear me out, but I believe that the recession has been one of the biggest blessings that our country needed.  OK, before you think I’m totally crazy, let me explain…

I do not in any way wish to downplay the real hardships that people are facing right now.  They are significant and at times overwhelming, no doubt.  However, have you noticed the good that is coming out of all this?  There is so much good happening.  Here are just a handful in no particular order other than as they come to my mind.

1- People are walking away from the pursuit of stuff.
2- People are reconnecting with God’s green earth and its provision for us.
3- People are realizing the unsustainability of our consumer-crazy culture.
4- People are more carefully evaluating their spending, focusing on quality not quantity.
5- People are reducing and reusing more, instead of just recycling and throwing away.
6- People are becoming more conscious of negative environmental impacts on their health.
7- People are plugging back into to community and sharing more.
8- People are returning to entrepreneurship.
9- People are regaining time with family.
10- People are turning back to their faith.

In our household, we are on an intentional journey of what we like to call “downward mobility.”  Do we own a home-based business?  Yes.  Do we desire to grow that business as large as the Lord allows?  Yes.  Do we do it for our own gain?  Only partly.  Our take on business and entrepreneurship is this: it is a way for God to meet our needs and then bless others through us.  At the same time as we are growing a business, we are seeking to reduce what we consider to be our needs.  By intentionally learning to live with less and less, we are finding a deeper connection to God, family, community, and the earth, and we are creating space for God to pour out even greater blessing to others through us.  Instead of focusing on wanting more and striving in our business to attain those new heights of material living, we are focusing on wanting: less stuff, more meaningful connections with people, and for God to grow our business to the extent that He wants to position us to be a blessing to others in the future.

And we are so thankful for how God has used this perspective to put up a strong shield around our hearts and minds during a recession.












Only Human

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OK, so my poor blog has now seen April pass as well.  But I think we’re getting into our new groove, and this is a quick post mostly to remind myself that I’m only human.  I hope it can be a blessed reminder to all you other type-A personalities out there as well.  🙂

I loved my February e-fast.  It was truly a detox.  When I logged back on to email for the first time, I think I felt my brain melt.  Besides clearing out and responding to my emails, I spent most of March trying to get acclimated to some new time limits online, and now, at the very end of April, I’m finally getting back to blogging – at least once a week, Lord willing!

The e-fast was helpful in many ways.  It was a wonderful time of drawing closer to the Lord, just resting at His feet while serving my family only.  I began my e-fast with a desire to get His direction, and in some ways, I came out of February with more “service options” placed on my heart than I started.  At first I thought, “God, that’s not very helpful, I was hoping for some clearer direction!”  Then I came to realize His wisdom here – it forces me to stay closer to Him each day going forward.

One of the biggest reminders that I came away with, having all these interests and passions stirring inside me, is that I am only human.  OK, duh.  But, I need frequent reminding of that, and I know I’m not the only one.  🙂

It’s one of those weird paradoxes in life, I guess.  The more I find God expanding my heart for needs in the world, the more I realize how severely limited I am to do anything about them.  Rather than run myself ragged trying to “do, do, do,” over-commit, and live a stress-filled life on so many levels, I need to rest in the little peace-filled niche He has carved out for me within His greater plan and let Him do the work through my tiny action steps of faith.

Going into May, He continues to remind me daily to stop my striving and just give my best to the tasks for which He’s called me.  Right now, that is first and foremost my family and home (which includes our own creation care/downwardly mobile/green journey).  My work beyond the home – whether with my business or volunteer work – is in His hands to guide and grow through this severely limited human as He wishes.

“His strength is made perfect in our weakness.”  Such good news!  🙂

Mompreneurs

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The article below brings up so many great points, and not just for moms.  Are we in a recession?  Are millions of people jobless and hurting financially right now?  Are there all sorts of depressing statistics today to get us down in the dumps?  Yes, yes, and yes.  And I do not wish at all to trivialize or downplay the very real hardships people are facing.

But there is so much good going on too, if you know where to look for it.  As I see it, we are in a major time of transition.  And although transitions are rarely comfortable, they have the potential to be major turning points for the better.  We can either kick and scream in opposition to the painful change, deciding to remain negative, or we can have faith and look for all sorts of positive opportunities in the change.

I believe the recession is helping the US to begin turning away from our rampant consumerism and unhealthy, unsustainable lifestyle.  The lifestyle that constantly tells us we’d be happier if only we had x, y, z.  The lifestyle that keeps people trapped in jobs they don’t enjoy because they have to pay the bills, and in many cases pay down their consumer debt.  The lifestyle built around instant gratification, quick fixes, and a throw away culture.  The lifestyle obsessed with cheaper, better, bigger, faster at any cost.  The lifestyle that is contributing to rising rates of disease.  The lifestyle that uses more of the planet’s resources than is sustainable for the long term.  And I could go on…

Along with this cultural shift comes not only great challenges, but also great opportunities.  The article below highlights some of the entrepreneurial opportunities that, in this case moms have tapped into, in industries that are currently growing despite the recession.  People are still spending, but they doing so more mindfully and more in line with their basic needs and core values.  Whether you’re a mom, dad, or not a parent at all, if you’re looking for work, or more fulfilling work, consider the entrepreneurial options in front of you based on the growing need- and value-based trends out there.  Not everyone will hit a big ‘home run’ like the companies highlighted in this article, but there are plenty of other options out there for those willing to try something new.  If you have never done anything entrepreneurial in your life before, find a solid business coach to help you through your ideas, or get started with an entrepreneurial option that will help you to gain independent business skills through solid, professional, skill-based training within the supportive framework of an already established and healthily growing company.

For insights into entrepreneurial work-from-home options, including important points to consider to help you avoid disappointment, hype, and scams, check out my work from home page with a free report.

For the article on Mompreneurs that inspired this post, click here.






















Earth Exploders

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Ever heard of MTR?  I hadn’t until a month or so ago.  It stands for a common coal mining technique called Moutaintop Removal, and apparently, over 3 million pounds of ordinance is detonated every day, blowing up entire mountains just to get at a thin layer of coal – to help feed my home electricity.  For a variety of reasons, I’m not at peace with that.

Now, to be sure, every source of energy has its benefits and challenges.  Coal, nuclear, hydro, gas/oil, wind, solar, biomass, and others all have their “issues” to be weighed, and no one particular source is perfect.  There will never be a one-source answer to energy problems.  In fact, the best answer has nothing to do with sources – it is conservation.  If everyone used less energy at home, and took tangible steps away from the consumer lifestyle that demands so much energy use across the country to make “stuff” for us that we don’t really need, there would be far less of a problem at hand.  But more on this another time.  In this post, I’d just like to share a bit of what I’ve been learning about MTR so that you can consider these issues for yourself.

From a website for “Coal Country,” a documentary:  “Most Americans are shocked to learn that nearly half of the electricity used in the United States today is produced by coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel…  The tops of mountains are blasted away, exposing seams of coal, while debris is pushed into valleys and streams. Residents endure health problems, dirty water in their wells, dust and grime on their floors…” (liaisondistribution.com).

Many coal companies bury streams with mountain debris and then plead innocent to polluting the water on the basis of there being no water there anymore.  “To date, the legal system has bought this kind of logic to the tune of twelve hundred miles of vanished streams and rivers in the state of West Virginia alone” (Sleeth, p.13).

Not only are we destroying God’s mountains, forests, valleys, streams, and ecosystems to power our country’s excessive consumer lifestyle, but we’re making people in Appalachia (and all around the world) sick to do it.  Both the human health and the environmental sides of this are equally problematic to me, since the long-term health of people depends on the health of this planet given to sustain us.

“A typical family uses 1,800 pounds of coal per year powering just its electric clothes dryer.  An average of 20,000 pounds of forest, dirt, and rock must be dumped in a stream in order to get that amount of coal.  It is easy to rail against greedy corporations and corrupt judges.  It’s a little harder to actually do something about mountaintop removal by changing our behavior” (Sleeth, p.14).  “Environmental topics can get so politicized and polarizing that we absolve ourselves from personal responsibility” (Sleeth, p.65).

We had already started line drying clothes as part of our household move toward “intentional downward mobility” and increasing conservation, but learning about MTR has helped to solidify the commitment that much more.

Wherever you are on this issue or journey, please know that my intention is to lovingly challenge and encourage.  For example, please do not feel bad, guilty, or defensive if you use a clothes dryer!  That is so not my intention at all.  But please do some prayerful soul-searching on these big-picture issues and how our personal everyday choices help combat or perpetuate the overall societal problems.  And please also be encouraged – you cannot make these changes all in a day and that’s OK.  Lord knows I still have a ton to learn and alter myself!  But challenge yourself to continually learn more and take steps to make changes as you’re able.

These days, you can find energy conservation tips just about anywhere. But one of my favorite resources for everything “green” including energy conservation tips is Nancy Sleeth’s book, “Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God’s Green Earth.”

Additional quotes above from Matthew Sleeth’s, “The Gospel According to the Earth.”