Drowning in Garbage

The Spirit told us to start eliminating plastic from our home.  This seemed to be such a huge undertaking to me and I was so overwhelmed by the thought of it all that I did not move forward on it for several months.  I have found that is one of Satan's tactics - to just paralyse us from moving forward on something that the Spirit has told us to do.  He whispers to us "that is too expensive" or "that is too time-consuming" or "it is not possible - plastic is everywhere, why even bother."

Satan knows that if he cannot tempt us to do really wicked things then he will at least distract us from doing what the Spirit has told us to do.  He wants to stop us from "acting" and place us in a mindset where we wait to be "acted upon." 

So here I waited telling God, "this is just the world that I live in and plastic is a part of it, even if it is not ideal."  .......................  and there I waited  .........and waited.... waiting to be acted upon because I was unwilling to act.

The power of the Spirit had withdrawn from me and I sat distracted in my home clinging to my plastic.

Unfortunately this process has been repeated many times for me and still I am learning how to trust and obey a little quicker each time.  In every situation however the real motivator for me to change course is the loss of the Spirit.  When I have lost the Spirit I feel so hopeless, so unsure of myself, and I seem to loose the clarity of vision and happiness that I once had when It was my companion.  I imagine that is what eternal damnation would be; just being cut-off from that Source of direction, love, happiness, and peace - there would be no need for fireballs and brimstone, it would already be miserable.

So once again I eventually moved forward "acting" in obedience, and once again the Spirit taught me the real reason why I was eliminating plastic after I first acted in faith.  It was brought to my attention that by replacing plastic with natural elements of wood, glass, metal, canvas, paper, leather, and fabric we were creating an environment that was self-sustaining.  God wanted us to return to the lifestyle that our ancestor's had lived for thousands of years, a lifestyle where everything could be re-used, composted, melted down and reshaped, or burned in a healthy manner.    

Consider our ancestors' lifestyle: did they purchase a bunch of things from the store, unwrap and consume all the goods, then fill up large garbage bins with all the wrappers, and set it out once a week for a truck to come pick it up and dump somewhere far away from their home where they would never have to visually see the impact of the lifestyle they were living?  No, everything they used was natural and went back into the earth just as it came from the earth with very minimal processing.

Creating this lifestyle for our family has been a major transition from where we were before but slowly we have been leaving behind our wasteful ways and learning to live according to God's ways.

Undoubtedly the tribulations that precede our Savior's second coming are happening throughout the world.  If they have not hit your area yet then prayerfully consider some simple ways that you can eliminate some of the packaging that will eventually turn into a sea of garbage in our homes and neighborhoods.  If you replace your plastic containers with glass be sure to earthquake proof!

I snapped a few pictures to share some ideas of what it looks like now in our home:

 IN THE KITCHEN

We have purchased our dried goods in bulk to minimize packaging.  Eventually we hope to refill the jars with our own produce as we increase in our ability to grow our own food, harvest it, and naturally preserve it.  Until we reach that point- we will just rotate through our stored foods and sprout the seeds, grains, and legumes we have stored for fresh nutrients and enzymes.

IN THE BATHROOM

We removed all plastic packaging from our year's supply of toilet paper and stored the rolls in large boxes to eliminate garbage later.

 We make our own toothpaste out of bentonite clay and brush with wooden toothbrushes - it all took some transitioning but it is nice to actually encourage our children to swallow their toothpaste now because of the health benefits it offers.  That was not the case with the toothpaste we had always used before.

We have licorice root sticks as a back-up for teeth cleaning. :)

We switched to wooden combs and hair brushes with natural bristles.  I bought a beautiful handmade wooden mirror.  We switched our deodorant to a natural salt rock and a crystal.  We keep them in a small burlap sack.  We replaced our lotion with coconut oil, and we switched to an all metal razor.  We still buy our soap from a wholesome company, but I know that I need to learn how to make it myself soon.  We also replaced any plastic containers in our bathroom with glass jars (and metal lids or cork stoppers).  I did not take a picture but we found a favorite shampoo bar that we buy a dozen at a time.  It comes as is with no added packaging- just 12 bars of soap in a cardboard box.  These boxes of shampoo bars replaced all the plastic containers of shampoo bottles that we used to have stocked up in our year's supply.  Just this change alone eliminated a lot of unnecessary packaging and future garbage.

 

 IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM & CLOSET

  Our plastic laundry baskets were replaced with handwoven jute baskets with cotton liners, they are much more respected and cared for now that our children know they cannot be used as cars. :)

My husband made me a wooden ironing board with a cotton cover and a wool pad.  We switched to wooden hangers, wooden and shell buttons, all-metal scissors and sewing/mending tools, cotton thread with wooden spools, organic cotton yarn and organic wool yarn.  It was quite an undertaking to replace all of our plastic buttons with natural ones, we are still not all the way finished with that project but our young daughters have become quite proficient at replacing buttons. :)

Here is an up close shot.  We are still using an electric iron, I haven't switched over to that cast iron one..................yet.  I am hoping that prompting doesn't come for a little while because my heart is still obviously attached to ease.  :)

The Real Deal or The Facade

The Spirit told me that I needed to give up make-up, hair-coloring, and nail polish.  I have to admit that it was weird to see my natural toe nails, they had been hidden under a coat of deep red for years.  I also have to admit that I slowly eliminated my make-up in stages.  It was easy to throw out the lipstick and blush because I rarely used those but I reluctantly let go of the eye-shadow and concealer.  That was enough right?  After everything I had done surely Heavenly Father would not care if I kept my mascara.  It took me four months and I ignored the feeling I felt every morning as I reached for that mascara tube.  I kept thinking "I will get rid of it....eventually."  The Lord was not pleased with my "eventual obedience" and one day the thought hit me, "am I really allowing a tube of mascara to come between me and the Lord?"

It went right in the garbage and I was finally at a point where I could be taught why He wanted me to leave those ways behind.  
 
God loves a sincere heart.  One that is real, is honest, is true.  Nothing fake, nothing false, nothing pretend.  No hidden realities masked by a pleasant-looking illusion.


"The Great Imitator" - that is what President James E. Faust referred to Satan as.  Consider for a moment the similarities between the Law of Consecration and Socialism.  Isn't each individual giving up their time and abilities and belongings for the benefit of the community in both plans?  Yes, only there is a HUGE difference.  With Socialism it is forced, with Consecration it is freely chosen and lived by each individual.

Start watching for it and you will find that Satan has established imitations in our society that mimic God's ways and can deceive many (even the very elect).

For example:

After all the work of the creation was complete did Adam behold his wife Eve and see bright pink nail polish on her toes and long acrylic nails on her fingers?  At what point were women "inspired" to began enhancing themselves and where did that source of inspiration originate?  If God had wanted us to have colored toe-nails then why did he not create us that way?  If He wanted us to have thick, everlasting hair color then why did He create bodies with hair that eventually turns gray and thins?

Until we embrace the realities of mortality then we are not learning the lessons that we need to during this life.  For us to be worthy of inheriting a terrestial world we first need to live in harmony with the laws that govern the telestial world that we are living in.

God wants to bless us with things far greater than we can even comprehend, but He cannot until we are willing to recognize the truth and the imitations for what they are and live according to truth.

Before you assume that this post is just about our physical appearance, ask yourself:  Do I pretend that I can afford things that I cannot?  Do I pretend that I have ideal family relationships when I do not?  Do I pretend that I am living the way God wants me to when I am not?

Christ was uplifting to everyone He encountered except the hypocrites.  They were the ones who were so irritated by Him that they planned and executed His crucifixion.  If you are being hypocritical about something, then change - we all are or have been at different times in our lives and in different circumstances.  All we have to do to remove the facade is admit the truth to ourselves and to God (and others if necessary).  When we come unto Christ with "real" intent, with a broken heart, confessing the reality of our situation then He can heal us and make us whole.  Don't be surprised if this needs to be repeated, we should consider ourselves like an onion with not just one layer but several that need removed to get to the core.  The Spirit will bring those layers to our attention one by one (Ether 12:27).  Trust me, there is a lot of work and patience that is being put into each one of us, we must be pretty valuable to God. :) 
 
Remember, in the parable of the prodigal son after he squandered his inheritance and finally "came to himself" - starving, broke, homeless... He returned to his Father- humble, teachable, sincere.  The Lord cannot make anything of us until we come to this point.  Unfortunately the seemingly perfect older brother had yet to reach that point and his Father lovingly showed him yet another outer layer that needed peeled away.    

I have a handful of friends who have been blessed powerfully with the Spirit - the common quality among them is that they are all completely sincere.  They are real, they don't shout their imperfections out to all the world but they certainly don't try to hide them.  They acknowledge them and acknowledge their reliance on God's power to overcome them.


I thought I would include the definition for "facade:"

Facade - an outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality.