Or to put it another way - Let's Go Round Again. The title seems quite apt, though not the lyrics in this context!
Yes, it's That Time Again as well as being almost a year since the start of the Greenpatches blog. What on earth was I thinking about when I threw caution (and commonsense) to the winds threw in my lot with the Methodists and signed up for their No New Shoes Lent campaign? Come to think of it, what murky motives lie behind the 2008 Greenpatch foray across denominational lines as the campaign is extended throughout the whole of the Methodist Church UK? Spend Less, Live More launches any day now.
I can remember wondering what on earth I'd got myself into. Fellow bloggers might well remember me agonising over what constituted the little essentials of life with much reflection on the definition of 'underwear' and whether tights fell into that category or not. I was following a well-established tradition here. (You'll need to go back to the original post to read about Adrian Plass's disciples and the sandals dilemma!).
To an onlookers if might all have seemed somewhat superficial at times, but in retrospect it marked the beginning of a definite learning experience about what constituted my 'foundations,' which extended beyond shopping, eating and consumer habits. The learning, I discovered, was as much in the process as in the actual practicalities of the journey. Running parallel as it did with both a college course on Chrisian response to environmental issues and with the start of my first novice year with The Society of St Francis concentrated the mind wonderfully.
A year later, I can't claim to be as green as Kermit the frog, nor yet possess the simplicity of St Francis. But, there's definitely evidence of small amounts of slimming down - more mentally and spiritually than physically, (to my horror, I've started to develop the beginnings of a spare tyre!). Never mind. You can't win them all!
