Simplicity
 

Years ago I had a minister speak these words to me.

"If you're not careful you'll miss the simplicity of Christ"

Those words have shaped my life from them until now and I am sitting here today being inundated with an undeniable realization that all good things come through simplicity.

Knowing my Christ is not difficult nor is it encumbered with all manner of measurements & rules. It is a simple thing to know Christ. So simple, in fact, that many miss it entirely.

The happiest life is the simple life.

Running 90 to nothing for the church & the soccer team doesn't make anyone happy. It just helps people run fast enough to not realize how unhappy they really are.

I feel more and more that peace is found in simplicity. A simple relationship with our God. Living a simple undemanding life. Living life with the simplest of our needs being met.

The big houses and fancy cars always seem to take more from us than they ever give back to us. They just place more demands on our already taxed life.

When I heard those words spoken to me years ago I thought he was just talking about my actual relationship with God. The rest of my life could be as complex as I wanted it to be.

For years I simplified my relationship with God but my life continued to drag me along.

As my life is beginning to slow down my relationship with my family is strengthened and has grown.

As our "pile o' stuff" decreases and the fancy things are sold off for simpler living other parts of my well being and who I am as a person are strengthened and I find more peace.

Today... by my choice... I have less than I have ever had in my life and I am happier than I have ever been. I am more at peace and I have the time and opportunity to share that peace with my family and we are stronger for it.

I must say thanks today to the minister who spoke those words to me so many years ago. I had no idea the eventual ramifications that those words would have in my life.

Like many others... I never realized that my relationship with God isn't just a one directional thing. To find the simplicity of Christ it requires that simplicity permeate my life.

Goodbye big city, fancy stuff and voluminous comforts... I am glad to have left you behind because, in some way, I find myself discovering a place whose builder and maker is God and, in this place, I find more peace and rest than I ever knew might be possible.

God is good... all the time.

Re: Simplicity
 

Excellent post, DFT!

Re: Simplicity
 

Great post and it begs the question what is life all about anyways.

Re: Simplicity
 

I am on the same journey. Less is more!

Re: Simplicity
 

Congratulations.

It is a wonderful journey to be on.

Re: Simplicity
 

Excellent post, Digging! I was thinking that our present economic crisis is going to put a lot of things in perspective and allow people to be forced to find the simplicity they have desired, but didn't have the courage to seek. Or rather, were on a treadmill that they couldn't get off.

Re: Simplicity
 

Yes ma'am. Amazing enough... while it is an easy choice to make... the reality of making it happen is anything but easy.

This world we live in goes so fast that it makes getting off the track a hard task.

Re: Simplicity
 

Amen! And it's wonderful that God knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts!

Re: Simplicity
 

Wow. Great post. God must read my private messages. LOL!!!!

Re: Simplicity
 

He is the ultimate Admin. :)

Re: Simplicity
 

Wonderful post. Thank you.

Re: Simplicity
 

Great post, DFT!!!!

Re: Simplicity
 

I have been struggling recently, trying to find some good out of the past 10 years of my life. Trying to find something beyond regret that I "wasted the best years of my life" in a relationship that was doomed to failure.

I knew that I must have gotten something out of it (for I do believe that God works things out for our good), but I just couldn't see it.

It was actually a friend who indirectly pointed it out to me. She was complimenting me on my financial discipline and frugal lifestyle, and made a comment that it must just be my personality.

And I laughed and told her that 10 years ago my credit was trashed, I had tons of debt, had never made a budget, let alone stuck to one. My house was always messy and disorganized, and my idea of cooking was making hamburger helper.

As I was speaking, I realized how much my character was shaped by years of hardship and (relative) poverty. I have no debt outside my mortgage, I stick to a very strict budget, and I have learned how few clothes and shoes that a woman can really live with.

Re: Simplicity
 

Excellent post.

I have thought of this while listening in on 'debates' between men who are trying to "out oneness" each other. Meaning, if the concept of "one God" starts out as being simple, it sure isn't after hearing the "experts" weigh in. In fact, I thought I believed in One God but now I think it is more like seven Gods based on what these theological geniuses were spouting. And the really sad/frustrating part, is that I am clearly hellbound for not thinking (or understanding) exactly like them.

Re: Simplicity
 

Great post and so true.

Re: Simplicity
 

Isn't that the absolute truth. It's not easy to unload stuff and make changes. I'm doing a near complete liquidation and moving across the country and lworking toward living a greatly downsized and reduced lifestyle when I get there and it's gonna take me about a year to make that happen. It's nuts. Shalom doesn't come easily, but it's worth it. For me, some it is necessitated by the economy, most of it by choice. It's been something I've been working toward for awhile, well before the recession hit.

Re: Simplicity
 

Thank you D4T! that was good!

Re: Simplicity
 

D4T....great post.

I was saying bedtime prayers with my 5 year old son a couple weeks ago when he told me that he wanted to die. I was shocked...but I asked him why. He said because he really loved Jesus and just really wanted to see and be with him. Later on that night I was still thinking about his answer when I felt God speak to me(he usually speaks to me in my thoughts)....he said that here is a 5 year old who is so detached to everything in this world....that he would leave it at a moments notice to be with Him...and that as his parent it is my job to help him keep this perspective. I felt so lost and hopeless because I realized that I couldn't help my son keep this attitude if I didn't have it myself. This started me on a path to rid myself of these attachments.

Just a thought....could this be one of things Jesus meant when He taught we should be as little children....be unattached to the things of this world....no matter how good or noble or holy or churchy they may be....be so unattached that we would leave it all in a moments notice just to be with Him.