My dream—and now our goal—is to be self-sustaining. The thing is, sustainability is a slippery slope. First you’re just trying to eat healthy and spend less money, but that quickly escalates to plans for an earth-sheltered home powered by solar panels. Before you know it, you’re off the grid, milking a cow twice a day and composting everything. And in my wife’s view, we’re all wearing linens woven by hand, singing kumbaya around a campfire, much to her chagrin.
But right now we live in an apartment.
So we’re starting out slow, doing what we can until we buy our plot of land, researching and learning now so we can jump right into things when the time comes. We’ve started baking our own bread, brewing our own beverages, gardening on our balcony, and composting kitchen scraps. We’ve started getting rid of stuff, reducing electricity usage, and living within our means (I’m constantly revising our budget system). But while these are all good practices, we’re still a ways from our goal of self-sustainability.
I should clarify: self-sustainability is really too narrow of a term for what we have in mind. Our goal really is to live how God intended us to live. That encompasses a number of facets, including eating a healthy diet, being financially responsible and free of debt, and having a place to host, serve, and do ministry.
But there are consequences to these facets. Healthy eating means growing all our own food. Being free of debt means building our own house mortgage-free. Having property to live on and use for ministry means lots of yard work. The advantage here is that I’m ridiculously excited about all of these things!
Ari says I somehow missed the Curse (Genesis 3:17-19). I’m excited to work the land. I’m excited to garden, to raise animals, to fell trees and drive tractors. I’m excited to build a house from the ground up with my own sweat and blood and occasional swear words. I’m excited to see our marriage grow stronger through all the hard work, and to see God work in amazing ways through this Grand Adventure.
I think self-sustainability is also a bit of a misnomer. It’s pretty hard to sustain oneself. After all, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). So I suppose what we’re really trying to do is live a God-sustained life.
But there will be plenty of bread too! And thus when you come over for dinner and we’re grinding freshly harvested wheat by hand to bake a loaf of sourdough, don’t be surprised. We’re trying to live sustainably.