Going back to a simpler life is not a step backward.   Yvon Chouinard For a few years I have been trying to reduce the busyness of our family life and return to a simpler way of living.  Admittedly I haven't done a great job, my family isn't necessarily on board most of the time, but it's on my radar and I am making slow but sure steps to go back to a simpler life.  I'm not the only one who seems to be craving this.  Recently a friend announced that from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday (it's not coincidence in my mind that the time they choose is Sabbath but that's a whole different conversation) their family is resting from electronics; to include cell phones, computer, video games, etc. I applauded her and her family for their attempt to regain some of the simplicity of life.  See, even though I participate in my fair share of social media, electronic interactions, etc I am not that big a fan of this age we live in.  I happen to believe that the tech...

I don't really want more time; I just want enough time. Time to breathe deep and time to see real and time to laugh long, time to give You glory and rest deep and sing joy and just enough time in a day not to feel hounded, pressed, driven, or wild to get it all done-yesterday.   Ann Voskamp Yes.  Voskamp says it perfectly.  It's not necessarily more time that we may want (although we may think so initially), but it's enough time.  Enough time in each 24 hours of a day to breathe deeply, to not feel pressed for more time but just enough time.  Enough time in each 24 hours to feel like I'm not rushed and I've missed deadlines that never existed.  Enough time in each 24 hours to "stop and smell the roses", whatever form that takes for each of us.  Enough time in each 24 hours to be grateful, to look at life and see the beauty in the midst of the busy.  And for me, and maybe you, a believer in God - enough time in each 24 hours to stop and see his ...

There is beauty in simplicity.   Unknown Today I'm working on this quote in my home.  I'm constantly saying "less is more" and working at making that happen in my life.  So today I'm looking around my home and evaluating what more can I get rid of, that is unnecessary, to bring simplicity and therefore more beauty into our home and more importantly our lives.  Sometimes simplifying for me means I have to be realistic about what I have time for in my life.  Like a few years ago I had to face facts about my desires to scrapbook.  I hadn't in a long time and I knew that, realistically, I wouldn't be able to for years to come.  So I simplified by making the painful decision (and it was painful to the creative part of me!) to get rid of my scrapbooking supplies and make some room in my life for things that I would still have time for (still creative things just not scrapbooking). By simplifying we bring beauty in to our lives.  It's s...

A well-known pastor, he was was once asked what was his most profound regret in life? “Being in a hurry.” That is what he said. “Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry.” “But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.…Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”   Mark Buchanan Being in a hurry puts us in the mindset of busy.  And we glorify busy, for that matter we also glorify being in a hurry.  Why do we do that?  Why do we teach, most of the time unknowingly, that being in a hurry and therefore busy is good?  Preferred even?  Because if we slowed down long enough to quiet ourselves and our busy minds we would see with the eyes of our hearts that being in a hurry and busy is not preferred.  It causes us to miss some of the m...