Simplicity

I want to live a life that gives maximum glory to Jesus.  I want Jesus to ooze from every single thing I do.  I want Him to saturate every portion of my life.  These are my goals--oh how I fall short!

Over the past few weeks, God has teaching me about simplicity.  Living a simple life that gives maximum glory to Jesus.  You see,  when I am stressed, stretched, exhausted,  trying to be in a million places at once, and flustered, I'm actually not giving Jesus the glory He deserves.  I have a problem saying "no", so I just attempt to pack everything into my schedule and promise myself I'll sleep when I die (which, by the way, is definitely NOT true!).  Maybe I can do a million things.  But I cannot do a million things well.  Is having my finger half-heartedly in every activity available really honoring Jesus?

My biggest struggle is saying "no" to good things.  It's not hard for me to say no to things that I don't really care about.  I could care less about boosting my resume or getting more credit hours for the sake getting a better job.  But it is hard for me to say no to being involved in one more organization that fights for things that are close to God's heart.  It is hard for me to say no to another weekly Bible study commitment.  It is hard for me to say no to being available every minute of every day to anyone who needs to "talk".  But learning to say "no" is the key to saying "yes".  I want to say "yes" to my sacred time with Jesus each morning.  I want to say yes to being discipled weekly by a godly woman.  I want to say yes to giving whole-hearted effort to Young Moms (the organization I volunteer for) and to the girls God has placed in my life to love and disciple.

Our culture has convinced us that to be busy and stressed and stretched is totally normal and expected.  We are to fill every night of the week with something.  We are to have our children in every extra curricular available.  We are to go go go go and go until we cannot go anymore.  But I do not want to live the rest of my life like that! I want to learn the art of sacred living now. I want to learn the art of living simply--of finding my joy and satisfaction in Jesus Himself...not in doing things for Jesus.

In his book Simpler Times, Thomas Kinkade says, "Most of us are so accustomed to over-stimulation that peace feels strange to us; it makes us nervous.  Simplicity can be an acquired taste, especially in a society that revels in complexity.  But what an improvement when we finally begin to feel at home with a simpler way of life.  What a surge of energy when we realize that saying no is really a way of saying yes to all we really care about."

I am examining my life and wrestling to place boundaries around the sacred things.  I am asking Jesus to show me the things He has called me to for such a time as this--and to be content in putting my whole heart into those things and saying "no" to other things (even good things!).  I don't know exactly what a simple life looks like for me, but I am confident that Jesus will be faithful to show me.

May we savor every moment of our lives, dear ones!  I think Jesus does want us to have time to smell the roses and to appreciate His beauty. He does want us to have time for sacred moments with family and friends.  He loves the meaningful conversations and tickle tournaments and belly laughs that we don't have time for when our lives are constantly on the move.  I think He is most glorified when we are satisfied in Him completely and not constantly filling our schedules with "good" things.

It goes against everything our world stands for.  But once again, I have to ask myself am I willing to be a little different in order to obey Jesus?  I pray that the answer to that question will be resounding YES!