In this land of plenty that we live in it is really hard to believe that over 44 million people go hungry every day in the United States. And here I am allowing food in my refrigerator to go bad and get thrown away. It’s not intentional. But then again, I’m not being intentional about taking inventory of my refrigerator and prioritizing foods that are going to spoil. Yeah, those turkey slices are going to go bad soon…but I don’t feeeeeeeel like eating turkey slices today. I’m embarrassed to say that. It is completely self-centered and unaware.
God gently opened my eyes to what I was doing and I couldn’t unsee the waste. I was more concerned with my cravings than the fact that people are starving. Comfortable with my full belly and a refrigerator full of food, why be concerned that food might spoil? After all, I’ve given to food shelters, ministries, and even helped package food at Feed My Starving Children. But my own daily actions didn’t align with concern for the hungry and wasting food. Americans throw away roughly 220 lbs of food a year and I don’t want to contribute to that number anymore.
Convicted, I had to figure out where to start. The easiest first step was simply to eat foods that were going to spoil even when I didn’t feel like it. I also came up with ways to use or store the extra ingredients that I was using in recipes. For example, if a recipe calls for ¼ cup of canned coconut milk I now use the rest of the coconut milk to make chia seed pudding because I know that putting it in the refrigerator to “use later” really means to “throw away” later. Even if I freeze it I would forget about it and end up throwing it away because it would get freezer burned.
I decided that “Waste Not” was going to be my theme for 2024. If I made it my “word of the year,” then I would constantly be aware of it. And oh, have I been aware of it. What began as an intention to not waste food has quickly spread into many different areas of my life. I started to see that I waste things that can’t be bought, that I treasure the most, and am always searching for more of.
Time. I waste SO.MUCH.TIME. I wake up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. I am starting to treasure my mornings more than my evenings. I love the routine and I feel grounded, peaceful, and energized for the day. But even with waking up at 5:30 a.m. I was still searching for more time. I started to pay attention to my routine and where I was wasting time. Can you guess? Yep. My phone. I wake up at 5:30am and the first thing I do…pick up my phone. Check the weather for the day, oh wait…is that a facebook notification? I’ll “quickly” check that out. Open the app, there’s a video of a cute puppy dog, watch the video and smile, start scrolling…..and scrolling….oh right, I had a notification. Check notification, ok, time to get out of bed! It’s 5:40 a.m. now and I have wasted the best time of my day without even thinking. It is so easy to let our phones hijack our brains (which is a whole other blog post) but now I see that device is hijacking what I am always searching for more of and that I treasure the most ... my time.
After a quick “doom scroll” to start it off, my typical morning goes like this: feed the dogs and let them out, make coffee, take vitamins and make the bed so I am ready for the most treasured part of my day, quiet time. I spend an hour in Bible study, prayer time, devotional, gratitude journaling, and meditation. At least, that is my goal. But . . . Open my phone to go to devotional…oh wait…text message. Let me respond to that. Ok, done. Oh, just got an instagram message…opens messages, watches funny reel, ok gotta get back to it! Finishes devotion, opens meditation app…..moving along! Done with meditation, another notification, check that out, respond, back to Bible study! I think you get it, but I can assure you I opened my phone a few more times.
These distractions felt like just a few quick seconds but I soon learned it was not. With my new focus, each time I would get distracted in my morning routine I started saying “waste not”. After a few weeks of doing this do you know what I discovered? I was wasting about 25 minutes every morning! Wow, I was wasting what I valued and was searching for more of and didn’t even realize it. When I stopped wasting time, I found more time.
And it did not stop with my morning routine. I realized that I was wasting time on my phone throughout my day. But if I’m scrolling through my phone while I’m eating lunch then that wouldn’t be wasting time, right? I’m there eating anyway so that time is being used regardless. Until I saw that when I was done eating I was still scrolling for about 10 more minutes or so. I started to put my phone away during lunch and just sat with my food and my thoughts. I ate slower, enjoyed each bite more, and felt gratitude. My wandering thoughts turned to remembering great memories, to people I love, to praying for friends, to meditating on what I am learning in Bible study. You know what I didn’t think about? Politics, products that I “need,” clothes that I want, and Hollywood drama. You know, all of the things that would be in my social media newsfeed. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the benefits of social media. But I need to be in control OF it, not controlled BY it. Putting my phone down for lunch not only gave me 10 more minutes of my day, it enhanced my life and my relationships. I am focusing more on people as the noise is being silenced and allowing me to think about what is important.
I started to think about all of the ways that we waste besides food, money, and time. We waste our health. If we can get up out of our chairs and walk it is a privilege. Imagine losing that privilege. When a baby takes their first steps we celebrate and are so happy. At what point in life does it become a burden? We try to get the closest parking spot so we don’t have to walk too far. I have to admit I might do this December through March and it’s not because of the walking, it's because of the bitter cold in Minnesota! Who can relate? But seriously, walking is one of the single most important things we can do for our health and it’s completely accessible. It’s a “get to” not a “have to.”
I am just starting on this journey of “Waste Not” and I already see so many other areas of life to apply this powerful mindset. We waste our energy and talents. We even waste our pain. We waste the sights and sounds of nature in the midst of our busy days. We waste our words and our resources. “Waste Not” has opened my eyes in so many ways. It is teaching me to pause, take inventory, be intentional and be introspective. I have found that when I do all of that I can’t help but be grateful. I am looking forward to seeing how it changes my life in the next nine months and sharing with you all of the ways that I have found to “Waste Not”.
I would love to hear your thoughts on waste and ways that you have made changes to waste less!