Seeking Simplicity

The world, life, ministry, but mostly life - well, it's complicated. I'm making a concerted effort to make it less so.

P and I have become increasingly minimalist as the years have passed. Our move to the condo was a good opportunity to re-assess what we *need* and what we *want*. BIG difference. Ultimately, everything in the condo and storage locker will have either practical or significant sentimental value to us. Everything else will go to someone who actually needs it.

My winter photo-organizing project was in large part due to simplifying and creating order out of the chaos that was our photo collection. I'm really proud of that project. I'm not a craft-inclined person. A person cannot be good at everything. Even so, I managed to organize our life in photos in a fun and even pretty way. Imagine!

On the other hand, there are things that I know without a doubt that I *am* good at, and I take pride in doing those things. Not in a boastful way, but in a way that says "God blessed me with some gifts, and I'm happy to share them."

Here's what I know:

I'm good enough.

It is possible, of course, to complicate that confidence with insecurity and self-doubt.....and for a lot of years I did exactly that. I let other people decide who I was. But at some point that shifted in a seismic sort of way. It occurred to me that I had to clear away that outer locus of identity and figure out who *I* was, and who God created me to be.

That's still a work in progress, but then it is for everyone isn't it?

Over the years of sorting through what was true about me and what was not, I learned to shake off the stuff that had stuck to me like barnacles on a ship's hull. The stuff that all of the bullies in grade school had teased me about......that I wasn't smart enough, or pretty enough, or athletic enough, or just....enough.

When I think of how very difficult it must be for a young person these days, one who doesn't make it into the "cool kids" safety net, well, it breaks my heart. It was hard enough for me to hear all of those cruel things at school and come home to a place where I was loved unconditionally. I had the luxury of leaving the teasing at school. Imagine coming home and hearing it all over again on texts and facebook. God protect all of the young people out there who face today's particular brand of bullying. It is truly horrendous.

What I wish I could say to all of them is this: "Remember who you are. Love yourself as much as God who created you - with a love that has no limits. Seek out your strengths and be proud of them. Don't let anyone else determine who you are. Be yourself - because that is enough."


Life can be complicated, and at times those complications cannot be avoided. But even so, it is possible to keep what you need and what is life-giving to your soul. The rest of it....the things that chip away at your self-worth like waves wearing down the rocks along the sea shore.....the things that have no life-giving value, all of that can go.

Simplicity. Minimalism. In a culture that encourages us to always have more, more, more of everything, these can be lofty goals. But they are not out of reach. It's about understanding what it means to have enough of the things that really matter, and letting the rest go.

Enough.

Simply put - I *have* more than enough and I'm thankful for that blessing every day.

I *am* enough, and I'm thankful for that too.