Simplify revisited!

So how’s your quest to simplify going?  It’s been just 4 months since our Lenten series: Simplify.  I know that in my own household I had great momentum for a couple of months, but seem to have lost my footing during these summer months. 

But as I take a deep breath to prepare for the onslaught of a new school year, it strikes me as an especially important time to take up my resolve to Simplify – particularly in the area of time management. Unguided, the demands of our schedules, our school-work and extra-curricular activities, and the pressures of a new academic year threatens to run rough-shod over us. And I find myself asking whether I want to passively let this land-slide happen to us or do I want to make intentional choices about how we spend the next 10 months of time.

And with two teenagers at home, I realize just how precious 10 months is.  Our daughter will head to college in just 3 years, with our son following in 5.  I’d rather not spend these important years constantly stressed out, anxiously trying to get everything done and apologizing for all the verbal garbage that accompanies such stress. Is this really how God wants us to spend our time?  Is this really what Jesus meant by abundant life?

To Simplify means making choices – not only what we do but what we do not do.  It involves talking honestly as a family about what is most important and choosing to set aside those activities that are not the “best” options at this time.  (There are so many “good” things available to us, that choosing only the “best” is critical.)  At the core of these choices is what we are seeking to teach our children, what priorities we hope to convey, what values we desire them to carry into the future.

So as you look to this next season of your life, (even if you do not have children at home), consider how intentionally you are using the precious gift of time that God has placed in your charge.  Prayerfully reflect on the commitments which are governing your life?  Are they the commitments which are truly most important to you?  And as one of your pastors, I would be remiss if I did not ask:  “Where is God in all of this?  How does your schedule reflect your love of God, your call to serve God’s people and importance of your community of faith?  I’m not pretending I have all the answers, they are for you to discern.  But I am committed to praying about these questions with my own family.

Simplify.  Eliminate the clutter of your life to make more room for God.  It’s not just a seasonal theme, but a way of life.

+ Pastor Terri +