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With Your Rule
Simplifying Life
We all have heard of the 'back to the land' movement - people who give up lucrative careers in large cities to move to the country and rough it out on some small homestead - tilling the soil with hand-plows, planting gardens and fruit trees, free-ranging chickens, and milking their own cows. I've always been attracted to this type of life - it seems so close to nature and so simple.
But Christian simplicity has a specific aim - the intention of removing our interior busyness to make more room for God. We reduce our 'stuff' so that we don't spend all our time focusing on stuff, cleaning stuff, worrying about stuff. Having fewer material possessions actually lessens our work load - there's not so much to tidy and keep organized. Thus our hearts are recollected and more attentive to the whispers of God.
I think it also means reducing non-material stuff too - like too many interests, too many "I want to's...", too many concerns about this political event or that, and worries about whether we'll hit the sales after Christmas to get that toaster oven at half price. Are these things wrong? Of course not.
But to grow in union with God requires a reduction of our internal busyness - a letting go of the many unnecessary things we think about and desire - in order to come to an interior quiet and stillness. And this is the fruit of a mother's rule - to put all things in their place so we can focus on more important things - like God and loving our family.
posted by Holly at 11:22 PM
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My husband sent me to a hotel in a nearby city last weekend, with the command to relax and de-stress. I had been very busy up until that point, and felt pressured by the coming holidays. My Christmas list seemed long and detailed; the website was on my mind; I was trying to squeeze in last minute lessons in homeschool before the break; I had tons of Christmas music to learn for my parish ministry; the house was getting sloppy-looking as I ran out of energy. So, I took the weekend and sat in a motel room and 'wasted time'.
Ironically, I came home on Sunday not feeling much better - kinda 'weepy' actually. So my husband once more told me to stop - just stop all my work and relax. It was a totally unnatural feeling and I was suspicious of him - did he really know what he was talking about? Should I listen to him? But I complied as I was too tired to do anymore scheduled work anyway. So I decided to putz for a few days, and actually enjoyed myself by cleaning the cobwebs off the ceiling in Philip's shop. (not work for me - it was completely relaxing, in a Holly-type way).
It took me until Thursday to figure out I really had been working too much. That somewhere along the way, I had allowed too many interests and worries and new obligations to crowd my mind, and that if I needed anything, it was to re-assess my priorities and get back on track.
Over Christmas, I realized I was in need of a good dose of simplicity. The kind that focused on what was really important - loving God and allowing Him to lead me; spending time with my man who is so, so good; playing cards with my kids; stopping to look my littlest in the eye and agree with her that she was the most beautiful princess this side of the Mississippi.
And it felt good. I was peaceful again. I had my priorities straight and I could tell.
My practical rule, my jobs, my work -- all this is meant to put the lesser things in perspective so I can attend to the important things - the relationships in my life. I had allowed the schedule and the duties to become too rigid, and 'glorified the methodology', so to speak.
If you have experienced a frenzied Christmas, stop now! Make some hot chocolate for you and the kids and read a story. Play a new board game together. Put away the work for the holiday season to refresh, and gain back your strength, and re-focus, simply, on the people in your life. This is what our rule is all about.
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