The Discipline of Simplicity

Every year at this time we talk about “spring cleaning.”  We sort through our possessions and determine which are worth keeping and which are no longer earning their space in our homes.  The result is a barrage of garage sales and donations to Once & Again or Dibs! or Goodwill.  I’ve wondered sometimes why we don’t do summer cleaning or fall cleaning or winter cleaning.  There’s something about spring that leads us toward a fresh start.  There are things that will no longer be helpful in what is to come.  So it ends up in the trash, on a table in our front yards, or in the donation bin.

This is the principle behind the discipline of simplicity.  We let go of the things that are no longer helping us to move forward.  We sort out things that distract us.  This month we will be doing some spring cleaning in our souls to help us focus on our relationship with God.  What we discover is that when we have less we actually have more.  More peace, more passion, more joy, more of God.  This month we’ll invite you to try some practices that will create a little more space in your life - space for God. The first is to commit to memory Matthew 6:19-21.  Let these words of Jesus rest upon your heart and inform your approach.