Simplicity

There is something about simplifying your life that is so wonderful.

It sets you free.

Free to have more time in your schedule.  Free to have a house that is so cluttered.  Free to not have so many material items.  Free to be released from the consumerism and materialism that holds so many of us captive.

We have been striving to live more simply, eat more simply, and overall be more simple over the last few years.  I feel that over the years we have grown to live more simply pretty well.  But you know what?  It is stink-in hard!

Though we have been good about not adding material possessions, we are now trying to tackle the possessions that we have had and this is where it starts to get difficult.  We are selling off almost all of our furniture on craigslist right now.  We are going through closets, drawers, sheds, garages, etc and getting rid of almost everything.  It is so liberating, yet sometimes it is so hart to part with some things.  Now, I am talking about stupid stuff.  Like, I can't get rid of my snowboard.  I love that snowboard, I have many fond memories on it and I love snowboarding.  Yet, I have not ridden it in over three years and it is not likely that I am going to get away by myself sometime this winter, so that Heather can stay home with all six kids while I go spend $100 on a lift ticket.  It is just not going to happen, and I am okay with that.  But, I just can't sell the snowboard for $20 to someone at a garage sale, because I might use it again (in 5 years).  By the way, I have two.

Somethings are just hard to part with.

Overall, our kids have been awesome at this, but just like any kids they don't quite understand why they can't take their bikes and dresser to Kenya.  This is especially hard for our newer kids as they grew up holding tight to the few things that they could own.  Growing up, they just didn't throw things away.  So, it is a difficult task to send them into their room, with a garbage bag and a box for things to keep, with the task of emptying out their dresser.  After hours of work, the box is inevitably not big enough and the garbage bag is left practically empty.

Material things are just so hard to part with.  This is why Jesus told the rich young man (who had followed all the other laws) that if he wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven he would need to go and sell his possessions and give them to the poor, then follow Jesus.  (Matthew 19)  The problem was not that this man had many material possessions it was that many material possessions had this young man.  We live in a material world (thanks Madonna) and our material possessions control so many of us.  It was easy for us to tell Jesus, yes, we are willing to sell our possessions and move to Kenya.  However, the actual activity of doing it far exceeds the difficulty of merely stating it.

Yesterday we got rid of one of our sets of bunk-beds.  Yes, if you are keeping track this means that we now have 4 kids sleeping on the floor or on camping mats for the next few weeks.  (There are two that are still lucky as we have to keep their bed for a while).  It is so cool to see how God has been working and how He has been orchestrating things in our lives as we work through this simplifying process.

Through craigslist, we sold our bunk-bed.  The family came over to buy it right after we got home from church.  In my attempt to explain the messiness of the bedroom that the bed was in (like, sorry, this is the room of our teen and pre-teen) I told him that we just barely got home from church and didn't have time to take the bed apart.  Thus started the conversation of church, where we go, where they go, why we are moving, where we are moving, what we are doing, why we are doing what we are doing, etc.  By the time, I had helped him to his truck with our bed the conversation ended with, how can we support you?  Really God?  You even use craigslist to put people in our path?

And, as they drove away, I stood amazed at my God.  The God who is God over the entire universe, and yet cares so deeply about a materialistic man like me that he continues to provide over and above what I can even fathom.