I am growing to love…and crave a simpler way of life. Quiet time with my wife, a walk in the woods, an afternoon of bowling with my daughter simply because it thrills her to spend that time alone with Dad!
I have struggled for years with the typical wants and desires of an adult male in this world. Dont get me wrong, I can still hunker down with my HDTV and iPod with the best of ‘em, but I have a growing disdain for the complexities that society sets as some sort of standard…a benchmark that we are supposed to struggle to attain. How much stuff do we really need?
Work can bring this complexity…family can bring it and so can friends. I find great pleasure in those relationships that just seem to have a simple ease to them. There is an unhurried pace, a casual and comfortable stride…there are no lofty expectations…no agenda…just the simple ease of enjoying each others company. These relationships are unfortunately rare.
My good friend, Sweet Ben, told us one evening that he was tired of trying to live up to some standard that society has elevated before him (hope I captured that right my friend). He deeply desires to live out of the deep wellspring that Jesus has built within him and the pressure he feels when “society” clashes with the heart’s desire, brings him to the end of himself. I appreciate that about my friend…the raw honesty that the world (society at large) has little to offer those who desire to live deeply out of the Jesus within them.
I understand what he is articulating because I am there as well. I am weary from trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” and want to live more simply.
Deep in our hearts, if we are honest…this echoes with all of us.
Filed under: Christianity, Freedom in Christ, Joy | Tagged: Jesus, Quiet Time, Simple life, simplicity
