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““Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.”
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Welcome to this week’s Saturday Stoke, a short inspirational podcast designed to encourage and challenge you on the path ahead—it’s a place where, if I’m doing my job right, I’m spurring us all on toward love and good deeds. It’s a podcast that sounds like the Northwind blowing through barren trees and smells like a bonfire.
No one likes clutter. But I think clutter is more than junk on the floor.
Clutter, in my opinion, is a way of life. So, in order to de-clutter, which I know many of us are doing this time of year, we must do more than simply "clean up" or “tidy.” We must establish a vision of life.
A few years ago, when we prepared to move to England, we were forced to re-evaluate our reasons why we had so much stuff. I like to call this a philosophy of simplicity.
I know simplicity and minimalism are all the rage, but I think there’s good reason for that. There’s a special freedom when we simplify, and minimalism breeds a more stress free existence.
But when it comes to incorporating principles of simplicity into our lives, I believe we must ask ourselves, what is our reason, our vision for ordering "things?" Why simplicity?
And on a more spiritual level, “Why do our hearts yearn for the simple, yet frustrate because it seems so out of reach at times. “
I think, when thinking about simplicity, and ordering our “things,” we must first understand the reality that simplicity in anything is not easy. Richard Foster, the author of Freedom of Simplicity, reminds us that simplicity is not the same as simplism. Simplicity is actually complex. And it’s not for the faint of heart.
I remember my first lesson on simplicity as it related to recording one of our albums back in the band days. Our producer asked us to name some musicians we loved. One of the artists was Allison Krauss. Her songwriting and recordings sounded so beautiful and simple.
Our producer told us that kind of musicianship and writing was world-class, and was very difficult to execute. I’d never thought that simple sounding songs actually required a high degree of discipline and artisanship.
I think the same is true for talking about clutter in our homes. Anyone can clean or tidy a room. But it takes a high degree of discipline to establish a way of life that champions constant simplicity when it comes to our stuff.
When my family moved to England, we had to get rid of junk because it wouldn't all fit into our storage unit. So we were lucky, we were forced to develop our philosophy of "stuff" and re-order our lives. Moving is a great way to start over for sure.
I remember early in our marriage when we moved from Pennsylvania to Georgia, we owned a car and some "things." That's it. When we packed up for England, on the other hand, we owned a house, two cars, and had grown into a family of five. So, do yourself a favour and give yourself permission to reboot every two years.
Another aspect of simplicity in the house and in life is the tension of asceticism. Asceticism is severe self-discipline. In the religious world, asceticism means going without material possessions to the extreme. But we needn’t go to the extremes all the time and we must realize that the material world isn’t bad. But our use or misuse of it—meaning our stewardship of it, can be. God gives us good things. And it’s okay to enjoy them. But enjoying the material world without limit is a problem. Richard Foster says, “To deny the limitation of the created order is to be a materialist.”
We don’t want to over-value material things, and we also don’t want to deny the good of the material world. It’s a reality we must keep in healthy tension.
But we must also be truthful about the state of our world today. We are a world consumed with consuming. Our landfills and current waste problem testify to this reality. So we must be proactive and thoughtful about what we consume and to what level we consume. As Christians, we should lead the way in stewardship of the material world.
When it comes to my family, I want my girls to "do things." I don't want them to sit around and numb their minds on flickering rectangles that I give them permission to use. I don’t want them infatuated with the next cool things to purchase.
I want them to value life experience over consumption. A lifestyle of "doing" emphasizes experience rather than objects.
Simplicity in the home requires us to evaluate our consumption habits. But it’s much more than simply clutter on the floor or on shelves.
We need to understand the physical spaces we inhabit effect the way we behave. I remember talking to a young entrepreneur about the value of beauty in everyday life, and he said that while I was talking it occurred to him he’d never thought about the impact that seeing rats on the subway everyday had on him, versus a lifestyle that fed on less noise and speed and sought beauty along the commute.
It’s not that this young man went out and moved out of New York City. But he realized that what we surround ourselves with daily impacts our behavior and what we value in the world. He’d never thought about beauty as something that shaped him day in and day out. He’d also not thought about how the absence of beauty also shaped him.
Some public spaces in this world we can’t change, like the subway. But realizing we need a break from the rats and noise and concrete is a good way to simplify our experience with city life.
The truth is our physical spaces effect us. And if you’re a person who’s dealing with clutter in the home or in your life, generally speaking, then it’s time to ask yourself what changes you can incorporate to bring more airy simplicity to your daily experience.
Here’s a quick hack for taking the first steps towards simplicity this weekend: find your center.
“But Tim, that’s sounds like something a wackadoo mystic does when they’re all alone in the desert,” you say.
“Ah yes, it does sound rather mysterious, but I don’t really mean it in that way,” I reply.
Finding your center is something that Richard Foster writes about, but it wasn’t his idea either. He read it in a devotional book by a man named Thomas Kelley. Kelley writes:
“We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow. … We have hints that there is away of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center.”
For Kelley, a life of simplicity originated from a very holy place within—the Center for him was this beautiful abiding place of God within him. It is from this center life springs. Our daily decisions begin here, not in the pressures surrounding us from the outside world.
Dallas Willard defines simplicity as “the arrangement of life around a few consistent purposes,” which includes leaving out what is not necessary for human well-being. I love that, and I love taking Willard’s definition and joining it with Kelley’s admonition about living from the Center—and living from the center really just means “seeking first the Kingdom of God”; living with God as our focus and desire.
Willard says simplicity is a “matter of an inward order.” When you and I can truly say that our inward focus is to seek first God’s kingdom, says Willard, then we’ve arrived at a place of simplicity.
When our inward lives reflect this kind of holy simplicity first, we gain the benefit of a vision for life that reflects that simplicity. With God as the center, anxiety and stress fall away and are replaced by worship.
Remember the lilies of the field. They do not spin or toil or stress out about who holds their tomorrow. And remember Paul also reminds us to be lilies by relying on the Center—and that center is God.
“But in everything,” says Paul, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” —Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
When I read Paul’s words Jesus climbs next to me and agrees with Paul and encourages me.
“Well said Paul,” he says. “Tim, Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
“Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.
“Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?” He continues. "If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all?
“Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
“If God, my Father, gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, and do his best for you?
“What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax,” he says. “And not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works, fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”
Ok, so Jesus really didn’t crawl up beside me, but he does say that in Luke 12:22-32.
Simplicity in your garage and office and kitchen are excellent things to pursue. But the greatest form of simplicity begins by going to and living from our Center.
Stay stoked my friends!
The Saturday Stoke #20