Finding Simple....

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  1 Timothy 6:6-8

Do you crave a simple life? Do you just wish that your life had some kind of order and structure?

Me too. 

So, I am on a journey to find simplicity. 

If you are reading along with us on our reading plan then you are well aware that we are learning a whole lot about the Israelites. People so much like us. 

The Israelites were always trying to make things harder. To do things the hard way instead of the simple way of obedience. 

They were constantly trying to find short-cuts, which inevitably led them to 40 years of wandering in the desert. 

The journey to the Promised Land could have taken 2 weeks. It was a 200 mile journey.  Instead, it took 40 years and a whole generation of people dying before they reached their final destination.

Gosh, aren't we so much like those stubborn Israelites?  We are always looking for the fast track, and the easy way out. 

In our culture today, we have so many "things" to make our lives easier. Computers, cell phones, GPS, microwaves, self-driving cars (really?!!)...

In the search for simplicity, we have found anything but. 

Our lives are complicated by a million tv channels, thousands upon thousands of Internet search engines,  shopping online at any store in the whole world...

Too. Many. Choices. 

I tend to get anxious just thinking about all of the choices! Did I choose the right one? The cheapest one? The best deal?

Good grief. 

Remember when the Israelites were hungry and they asked God for food? 

God rained down "manna" from heaven. 

This was all they had to eat. And it was enough. 

The people were told not to hoard it or save it overnight though or it would be rancid and spoiled by the morning. 

Of course, many of the people did this very thing. And, to their bewilderment, they awoke with a mess of spoiled manna. 

They didn't believe that God would provide this food for them every day, so they took too much and hoarded it. Only to find that it would make them sick the next day. 

 Hello? Anyone see the comparison to us?

We don't trust that God will provide our needs, so we hoard. We over-purchase. We stock up and pile up "stuff" until we don't even know what we have. 

We long for simplicity, but it scares us. 

What if we don't have what we need when we need it?

Seriously? There is a Wal-Mart on every corner. 

 

Somewhere along the way we get attached to our "stuff" and it makes for a messy and cluttered life. 

Which leads to a cluttered mind. 

Every single time I see a bird flying in the air, I long for its freedom. Birds have nothing to hold onto. They live such simple lives. 

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Matthew 6:25-27

How I long for that feeling. Of no attachments to stuff.  Or schedules. Or anything that makes me miss out on the present of my moments. 

To assist my journey of simplicity,  I am cleaning out my closet. I am appalled at how much "stuff" I have. I cannot throw it into a black trash bag fast enough to give away. 

It's freeing. 

It unlocks something in my soul to be able to let it go. 

But, there are other things I need to simplify. And, I am working on that. 

What about you?

What do you need to get rid of to have a simpler life?

When we are surrounded by clutter, our spirit cannot hear the Voice of the Lord for all the noise. 

We miss out on so much because we have too much to tend to. 

Will you join me on this journey? 

I am praying for you. To let stuff go. To be free from whatever it is that suffocates you and holds you back from freedom. 

Let's don't be like those Israelites....

Let's trust that God will provide for us so we don't have to hoard and stock pile anymore. 

back to my closet, 

jill