A few thoughts on life...

Many apologies for the lack of blogging as of late. Unfortunately, we experienced a death in the family, and have been pulled in many different directions recently. Out of the past weeks experiences, however, I have found  myself thinking about the 'stuff' in life. What is needed, and what is simply excess? How simple do you live to be healthy, and how do you go about simplifying, should you choose to do so? 

I have always been for the common cliche, " Less is more." After having experienced a personal death, and seen what life is reduced to here on this planet after we vacate, it was clear how much the 'stuff' was just that- stuff. (Here I will pause, as I am reminded of many a stuffed toy that we have brought home to our dog...only to be reduced every time to a small squeaker, and a gigantic white mess...of stuff...ing.)

As this blog is dedicated to a simpler, more responsible way of living, I will ask: what does it mean to pare down to necessities? How much of what you strive for daily really adds quality to your life? Are the ways that we go about obtaining what we 'need' reflecting a Godly stewardship of what we've already been given? 

Thus, a conflict of interests is born. We are living in a catch 22. We are required to work our hind ends off to make ends meet, and yet we are told that life is not about what you have...except that when you have nothing, you can do nothing, and therefor become nothing. (How uplifting.) Nothing like a little Monday critic to brighten your day. Don't worry, it gets better.

It becomes clear rather quickly that where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also...to quote a good author I know. I have been reading an interesting book as of late, which reflects on the direction our lives will take, depending on where our plans and purposes are directed, and whom or what we are pursuing. Another verse comes to mind that we must lose our life to really find it, etc. For the longest time, I didn't REALLY understand that...at all. Lose life to find life- for me, that simply meant die to self, live for Christ, the end. There is so much more to that than first meets the eye, and I would say that it takes a bit of life experience- maybe even going around the horn once or twice- to really hit home with the theme of this idea. Make a few misguided decisions, and suddenly it starts to become real...and then you begin asking questions.

What is it that I am living for, exactly? What's the point of this whole thing? I don't know about you, but I have been caught between the urgency of the everyday grindstone, and the argument within myself that there is more to it than that. Only recently have I even begun to realize that it's both. You can't have one without the other- and that's how it should be. We can't be too quick to throw out the every day, because that's where we were created to exist. Take away the dream of bigger things, however, and something dies inside. Put the two together with a pursuit of knowing God in the moment, and suddenly purpose is found in the simple. 

Look at where God has you in THIS moment. Notice the people He has in your neighborhood, at your coffee shop, and in your office. THIS is life, right here, in THIS now. Be in pursuit of Godly moments constantly. The rest is just stuff.