Less is more...so much more

Simple living. It's been on my mind ever since I've met Ryan. At first, I was completly appalled at simple anything...but I'm having a change of heart.

I was recently reminded when I re-read a story in Oprah's magazine called: Back to Basics. The article goes in depth with 2 different families who have given up corporate jobs and left behind their 4,000 sq foot homes, expensive cars and designer clothes to pursue lives that are not consumer driven. They live in modest homes, grow their own food, buy clothes 2nd hand...or to put it more simply: simple living. They feel more human, more at peace and are more healthy and happier than they were prior to the switch. It is an inspiring article, one totally worthy of reading. Click here to read it.

Ryan has been bugging me about this kind of lifestyle ever since we've been together and I always made fun of him for wanting a simple life. We would argue about it all the time. He doesn't like TV, consumerism, wants to garden and have chickens and make our own bread...and all of that made me want to barf. I like watching TV (I've since learned that TV turns me into a lazy blob) and I also like shopping for groceries at the store, not my backyard. "That's flipping weird and I'm not doing it," was my usual response.

BUT, I think he may be on to something...it suddenly appeals to me now. I don't want to be all extreme and throw everything I own away and live in some shack in the mountains (although that sounds kind of fun) but I do love the less is more philosophy. I want to see our kids running through fields of grass; I want to take a deep breath and smell clean air, not car emissions; I now love the thought of picking dinner from my garden; I don't want my family to be inundated with advertisements of things we don't need; I don't want to hear police sirens. SO many reasons why I love the idea of homesteading. I suppose it's all rainbows and unicorns in my mind, I know it would be darn hard to grow a garden, to care for animals, maintain a home...but I think the benefits outweigh the hard parts.

Call me weird. I like weird.

Awesome verse in Habakkuk that our pastor preached on this past Sunday.
Hab. 2:9-10. "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain, to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin. You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life."

My take on that: God wants us to live for him, not our possessions. Greed only makes us MORE greedy...and ruins our chance at eternal life with Him in heaven. Our culture makes it almost impossible to escape greed. I get suckered into gadgets and clothes...thinking I need the hippest coolest things possible. I see a shiny device (camera, computer, iPod, cell phone) and I melt. I love little geeky techno things. I'm not saying those things are bad, they are not...and I happen to own all of them. It's the desire for more, the newer, better, bigger gadget; when what I have right in front of me is totally sufficient. That's my struggle with greed.

Another struggle: I happen to hate gardening. But I want to get over that....I like the idea of it, I just don't like the getting dirty and bugs part of it. (If anyone out there would like to give me gardening lessons, I'm game!)

I think I can overcome those things...or at least, I'm willing to give it a try. And I know God is more than willing to help.