I've been neglecting my blog pretty badly of late. So many great blog topics have come and gone through my mind in the last month that I sort of got buried under them, including some further exposition on the idea of Christian giving and what is really asked of us. I promise I'll take that topic up again later, as well as many others, but today I just want to get back to posting, starting with what's on my mind today.
Do you ever just want to have less? Everywhere I look, on TV, at the grocery store, at church, even on my own calendar, I seem to be drowning in a sea of excess: Excessive calories, complex activity schedules, and overwhelming choices. I have closets in my house that I hardly dare to open, for fear that a mountain of mostly forgotten excess clutter will topple onto my head. In all of this, I know I'm not alone. Everywhere around me, the cry goes up for a simpler, less stressful life, but is anyone achieving it?
I think there's a definite limit to how much we can actually simplify our lives. I'm all for getting rid of stuff and saying no to over scheduling. Each of has to listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance in our own lives to find the wisdom to determine what we can let go of, what we can take off our plates. However, I think we're being called to something even more revolutionary than simply cutting back.
For me, this is a big "be in the world, but not of the world" moment. The world in which we live is frantic, complicated, and materialistic. God has called us to minister in this world, just the way it is. He wants us to be salt, light, and ministers of His reconciliation. That means that we have to be able to walk in the midst of this chaos, and yet not be ruled by it. Jesus doesn't always calm the storm. Sometimes he wants to help us walk on water! Even if our lives can't always be peaceful and well-ordered, by the grace of God, our souls can be.
By all means, simplify your life as much as you can, but the things you can't simplify still should not be allowed to become objects of dread and anxiety. While you work on getting rid of the clutter in your home, also enjoy the blessing of having what you need, and remember that whether you ever get that stuff cleared out or not, you belong to God, not to your stuff!! If your schedule stays stubbornly busy despite your best efforts, all is not lost. Enjoy the event you have to go to tonight, the people you'll be with, the things you'll do, without allowing yourself to mentally rehearse the things you have to do for tomorrow's event. Just because we can't always make our lives look like the picture in the magazine (or the picture in our heads) doesn't mean we can't live our lives with freedom and joy.
