'simple' living
The past couple of weeks have been a good season in life, if you can count that short of a time as a season, and I think part of that is due to the simplicity of it all. I love it when life is simple and by this I do not mean lacking excitement, challenge or boredom. Rather it is life that has a limited number of areas where I need to focus my time, thoughts and energy. As I write this I am also conversing over IM and I am coming to the conclusion that perhaps this view of seeing simplicity as good is only mine or only male, I am not sure.
As I wrote earlier I love the simple nature of backpacking and having little to no worries since the whole day can be reduced to a couple of simple decisions. In a similar way, living a life being single has many of the same advantages and is generally underappreciated in our culture and churches today. I think Paul had a good point, as often can be found in scripture, when he said it was good to stay single. Oh the sweet simplicity...
There is one area in life, actually probably many, where simplicity and complexity battle within me. That is the area of material possessions. See, I like stuff. I really don't like shopping but I really like stuff. I enjoy gifts, new toys, new music, shoes... And this all competes with my desire for simplicity. What I need to do is practice the regular art of giving things away so that I do not find my belongings intertwining too deeply with my soul. This is hard for me. But I know from a limited number of experiences that it is deeply freeing. There is just something about filling up a bag or two of things you know you don't need and giving them away. I just need to do it more and with things that mean something to me. Not just give away my crap.
So I hope that life will remain simple and I am sure that will not always be the case but to the extent that I can keep it that way and maintain a focus on the few most important things I am sure I will be fair more satisfied. May I long for the best things...
As I wrote earlier I love the simple nature of backpacking and having little to no worries since the whole day can be reduced to a couple of simple decisions. In a similar way, living a life being single has many of the same advantages and is generally underappreciated in our culture and churches today. I think Paul had a good point, as often can be found in scripture, when he said it was good to stay single. Oh the sweet simplicity...
There is one area in life, actually probably many, where simplicity and complexity battle within me. That is the area of material possessions. See, I like stuff. I really don't like shopping but I really like stuff. I enjoy gifts, new toys, new music, shoes... And this all competes with my desire for simplicity. What I need to do is practice the regular art of giving things away so that I do not find my belongings intertwining too deeply with my soul. This is hard for me. But I know from a limited number of experiences that it is deeply freeing. There is just something about filling up a bag or two of things you know you don't need and giving them away. I just need to do it more and with things that mean something to me. Not just give away my crap.
So I hope that life will remain simple and I am sure that will not always be the case but to the extent that I can keep it that way and maintain a focus on the few most important things I am sure I will be fair more satisfied. May I long for the best things...
posted by Jon at
8:20 PM
2 Comments:
Jon, we must be the same person. I am reading a book at this moment called "Simpler Living Compassionate Life- A Christian Perspective". Wow...man, that is weird.
Anyway, it's pretty awesome, I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing with it all...it's pretty overwhelming. Something about how they challenge the idols of efficiency and productivity that rings true to me deep down. Anyway, i'll send you my book report.
That is scary. I would say maybe we need some time apart to be our own person but then again we never see each other. I look forward to the report.
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