A Life of Simplicity

I'm thinking ahead. I spent a big chunk of a day recently praying and seeking God for His vision for my life, specifically for 2012. This is what God said to me: "Live a God-paced life. Ask yourself continually if a particular possession or activity enhances your ability to live a life of simplicity–one purely and wholly devoted to Me."

For the past six years I have been intentionally and sporadically systematically simplifying my life. Initially my efforts were to make my life easier and less stressful. I knew the great question, "Do you own your stuff or does your stuff own you?" One year I kept a calendar to track my efforts. For everything I sold, gave away, or threw away I circled a day on my calendar. By the end of the year I had 365 less things.

Bit by bit God is working in my heart to reveal to me why I crave simplicity. II Cor. 11:3 (NASB) says, "I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be lad astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."

Donald Whitney* says, "We simplify, not just to be less busy, even though we may be right to pursue that. Rather, we simplify to remove distractions from our pursuit of Chirst. We prune activities from our lives, not only to get organized, but also that our devotion to Christ and service for His kingdom will be more fruitful. We simplify, not merely to save time, but to eliminate hindrances to the time we devote to knowing Chirst. All the reasons we simplify should eventually lead us to Jesus Christ."

One would think that Russ' sinus surgery, stroke, severe infections, irregular heart beat, broken bone, osteoporosis, cancer, and the literally hundreds of hospital visits I've made in the last five years would complicate my life rather than simplify it. Ironically God has used these to sharpen my focus on what really matters. Without a doubt I cherish my relationship with Russ, but God chose me to be single-heartedly devoted to Him. I knew that before 2006 when Russ' health took a nose dive, but now I'm experiencing it in a new way.

I've started working through Cynthia Heald's study entitled Becoming a Woman of Simplicity. She says the purpose of the study "is to encourage [me] to live life the way God has planned." She thinks God's "way is one of inner preace and rest in the midst of a complex and busy world." She sums it up by saying, "My definition of a woman of simplicty is one who lives a God-paced life. She waits for God's leading, and she has time to be still and know her Lord. She has a deep abiding rest in her spirit. She is a woman of profound simplicty because she has only one focus: being simply and purely devoted to Christ."**

I just love the way God uses everything I see and hear to flesh out the message He's trying to get through to me. I was wondering how to purse this life of simplicity when I read David E. Shi's words.*** "The essence of simplicty is not in renunciation, but in discrimination. It requires learning to distinguish between the necessary and superfluous, between the useful and wasteful, beautiful and vulgar...Simplicity requires an individual commitment...rather than a particular standard of living. it preaches contentment and self-control and promises spontaneity and freedom."

I'm writing this as I sit outside the operating room. The doctor is cutting away cancer from Russ' ear and replacing it with healthy tissue. My heart is at rest not because I'm easy going. No one who knows me has EVER described me that way. I'm just enjoying God's sweet presence out here in the hallway and I'm confident that the Holy Spirit in Russ is radiating out to the surgeon and attendants around him. God has called me to trust and rejoice–to simply be devoted to Him.

* Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2003), 26.
** Cynthia Heald Becoming a Woman of Simplicity (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2009), 15.
*** David E. Shi In Search of the Simple Life p.6

P.S. The doctor was pleased with how the surgery went. We'll know in a few weeks if it was completely successful.