by Haley Stewart
I've followed Haley Stewart's blog off and on for years. I love her story of giving up a job and house in Florida for an internship on a farm in Texas. I immediately thought it showed a family that was willing to make sacrifices in order to live the life they thought would bring their family the greatest joy. This book tells the story of that journey, but more importantly, it provides thoughtful chapters on living with faith at the foundation of the decisions we make every day: how we work, how we spend our free time, and what we buy.
Among the treasures of hobbit culture are a relationship-centered community, a strong connection to the natural world, and the prioritization of leisure and festivity over production and efficiency. These things are completely opposed to our throwaway culture and compatible with the Gospel, and they can be lived out wherever you are.The book is divided into three parts: Returning to our Roots (a focus on togetherness, authentic freedom, environment, beauty, and home), Reconnecting with what makes us Human (slow food, hospitality, communities, internet), and Centering our Disconnected Lives at Home (NFP, generosity, and hopefulness).
How we live out our responsibilities will vary from person to person and from family to family. We must be cautious not to fall into anxiety or despair or to seek "solutions" such as population control that merely put bandages on problems at the risk of damaging human dignity. God has created the world for us. He has designed it to sustain us, and we are meant to live here and be fruitful. We need not act out of fear but out of love.There are lots of books in today's world about minimalism, but Stewart's book focuses not just on how to declutter (though there's some of that), but why we declutter and how we can use the time and freedom we gain to improve the lives of our children and our neighbors.
When Kansas Dad chose a graduate degree in theology, we were well on our way to a life contrary to contemporary measures of financial wealth. There wasn't much in the book that our family doesn't already do, though it is always comforting and encouraging to read about others who are attempting to focus on love and faith.
Many of those caught up in throwaway culture have forgotten that food and creation are inextricably linked. Wendell Berry reminds us that eaters "must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used."One aspect I did consider more deeply after reading the book was the idea of inviting people over for dinner more often. To be honest, we may just be in a phase of life where that's not possible as often as we'd like. Our oldest children are reaching middle school and high school and we do feel it's important for them to have activities outside the home. With all four of them involved, we are resigned to evenings out much of the time.
There are reflection questions for each chapter. Resources are provided at the end of the book for decluttering, natural family planning, and prayer and the liturgical year.
This is a relatively quick read that will be inspiring to those of us who want our faith to infuse our lives every day, not just at church on Sundays, and not just when we are teaching our children.
I received nothing in return for writing this blog post. All opinions are my own. I checked this book out from our local library. Amazon links above are affiliate links.
