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Fasting: Lent, Opulence, and HGTV

This is going to be hard to write because I have to start by confessing that I am an HGTV addict.  I feel like I might be related viagra 25 mg efectos secundarios to the Property Brothers and I love watching both House Hunters and House Hunter’s International.  And I love the Fixer Upper series with all of the creativity and fun that those two can muster.

But now I have this urge to rip out walls and redo countertops.  My backsplash is totally inadequate and I MUST have hardwood floors and stainless steel.  My house is totally inadequate and needs to be transformed into an updated, open concept reality.  Wow, where did that come from?

We can get in real trouble if we begin to believe that HGTV exemplifies reality.  This is a network about rich people who worry about having big enough walk in closets to hold the dozens of shoes they own.  This show, as much https://www.acheterviagrafr24.com/ as I like it, does not represent reality and can distort the way we see our world.  It really is about self-indulgent people who tend to whine a lot but love it when perfection is placed before them.  And, if I had the money, I would probably be one of them or at least strongly tempted to be one of them.  However, this is somewhat ethically problematic.

I was at an event where a missionary from Jamaica spoke.  He talked about passing all of the rich resorts and then going to where the Jamaicans live.  He spoke of families living in huts with dirt floors.  He really got to me when he talked about the senior citizens who sleep in ditches because they have no huts or homes.

Then he shared that it costs $3000 to build a nice home, with floors, for families and seniors.  Not fancy, but adequate.  Then, he talked about friends of his in America who decided to remodel their kitchen because it needed “updating.”  Nothing was broken.  Nothing was wrong.  It was just outdated.  This is the effect that HGTV has on our world.  HGTV is now defining what it means to be updated.

So the kitchen remodel was to cost $25,000 and the speaker pointed out that this amount of money would build 8 houses in Jamaica.  He suggested to his friends that they live with their kitchen and build the 8 houses in Jamaica.  For some reason, that concept hit me real hard.

In Lent we ask the question, what do we really need?  In Lent we ask how can we give for others?  In Lent we ask, what would Jesus lead us to do with our resources.  In Lent we ask, what is our reality?  In response to the love of God in Jesus Christ, we reach out to serve our neighbor.  Let us fast from opulence.  I still watch HGTV but with the prayer that I might keep it in perspective.  Rationalization?  I hope not.

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