Living Oprah

In 2008, Robyn Okrant performed an experiment. For an entire year, she lived her life completely according to the advice of Oprah Winfrey. She watched the show every day. She bought the O magazine. When Oprah said, "You gotta try this," Okrant tried it. When Oprah said, "You must see this movie," she saw it and when Oprah declared, "You should go out right now and eat this..." Okrant ate it.

The project started on January 1. By January 17, Okrant admitted on her blog, "This is a major life overhaul. It's invaded every aspect of my life.... Right now... I feel like a failure. I feel totally inadequate."

A 30-something year old woman from Chicago became a disciple of Oprah for a year, blogged about it, got some publicity and kick-started her writing career by turning her blog notes into a book contract. And it makes me rethink how I'm doing in this lifelong experiment of Living Jesus. "Love your neighbour. Love your enemy. Give in secret. Forgive. Pray. Fast. Make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." I'm not just thinking about polite head-nodding to over-familiar phrases but paying the price every day to live as Jesus' disciple.

I feel inadequate. I feel like this one decision changes everything. But I believe that this is a far more significant and enduring experiment than Robyn Okrant's year of Living Oprah.