I attended a conference this weekend called, Lit. It was hosted by Beth Moore, especially for the younger generation of writers and speakers who feel called into that particular ministry. 

I am excited first, that at 39 years old, I still qualified. Yay for that. I am excited next, because the relatively small gathering (only 744 of us) were treated to a raw and passionate (even more than usual!) "older sister" encouragement by Beth, as well as a few who are not much older, but in the thick of this very ministry. It was a blessed, inspiring time together. 

I wish that all of you who have been entrusted with this ministry could have been there, because you would have surely been as encouraged. Now that I am home, I am trying to process the lessons I took from there. There are many which would stretch far beyond just speaking and writing ministry, into the lives many of us live in ministry in various parts of God's kingdom. As I processed, I thought you may benefit from some of the take aways I had. 

Some of these were things Beth specifically said, and some that I learned from her apart from her words.  Here are some of the  highlights: 

These opportunities to learn at the feet of someone who is actively living out her calling, is one too blessed to forget quickly. I wish you were all there. 

I can feel that this weekend ignited a new passion for me. I am an entrusted Christ communicator. I want to be worthy of this calling. May you feel the fire in your bones as well. 
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Happy 2017, friends! I hope this year has already brought its own blessings and that you have much to look forward to the months ahead.

I am most excited for myself that I get to share Living Simplicity with you sometime in the next few months! I hope to share some great opportunities with you soon, about how you can be part of getting the word out. I truly believe we could all use to live a little simplicity.

If you aren't already a subscriber, I hope you will consider subscribing so that I can share that info with you as the time is right. If you havn't yet, please use the subscribe button in the side bar to get set up!

Not all, but a good part of living simply is managing our home. Our homes are the stage for a life lived simply. When starting out with my passionate bend towards simple, I thought that if i could just get my home simplified then I would be well on the way. I realize now that my home is not the most important part of simplifying, but it is does have a big part in the success of managing my resources well and thus, living more simply. 

In getting our homes in order, we are creating a space from which to launch all other aspects of living simply. We can use it as a centering point, a place where we can get our focus and live out the principles of simplicity. When my home is simple, it makes managing resources in other areas much easier. When I have my resources managed in my home well, I've learned that I am in a much better state of mind to tackle the other aspects of simple. 

Notice I didn't say getting our homes spotless. I didn't say perfect. Or, perfectly decorated.  None of these things are required to get find our simple self. Mostly, we need to have a degree of control of over our space, so that we can mange our resources well from that place. If our space for planning and launching is overrun with mismanaged resources, then how can we hope to do that way from there? 

Among other things, I hope to encourage us one aspect of simplicity at a time this year. There are a lot of places we can start, but we will start right where we are - in our spaces. 

Starting soon, we will begin a new series on simplifying our homes. There is plenty on the internets about the cleaning/organizing aspect of simplifying home. I will focus more on the emotional and spiritual aspect of getting our homes in order. 

To get started, take a peek a recent post on how pride can affect your clutter. 

And, stay tuned to learn how clutter can affect our relationships. It may surprise you that being overrun by clutter can negatively affect your closest relationships, and hinder the greatest purpose behind living simplicity. 

Also, I am working on an online course as a companion series to Living Simplicity (to be released spring/summer 2017). If would like some more interactive encouragement to simplify, I may have an e-course for you. Again, stay tuned by subscribing for updates! 

I am so excited to learn with you this year! 

I work part time as an RN in a small town Emergency Room. I'm not there often, just a couple times a month. It's where I can jump into a different box, work a different part of my brain and be reminded of the uniqueness of my family and our blessed life. This last weekend I spent a day there, and I'm still trying to absorb it. It was a really busy shift, and had all the elements of a typical ER day- lots of drama, life, death, busyness and sacred moments.

It's hard sometimes to see the sacred moments amid the chaos of the work. But, I was so struck by the honor I had to be present in several people's worst moments this weekend. I was present when few were, when they refused family (or, for their benefit we had to), when they needed to process alone, when phones weren't there, when silence was the only right thing.

In one shift I held the hands of a young wife whose husband had just commited suicide, a woman who was lost in her mind, a mother whose child passed away, a man who got the news he was full of cancer and his family who had to process their new reality.

In each of these cases, there was a sense of sacredness. Not everyone felt it. But, as I sat with a once sophisticated woman who was screaming and thrashing, lost in her mind in some very dark place she had never been before, I saw a cathedral. I felt a holiness. As I sat with that mother who wept over the body of her son, I saw a sacred space that will be marked in her memory forever- where pain is so great, and it's impression will never leave. It was sacred. As I walked beside a doctor who I knew was about to deliver heart-wrenching news to a loving family, I was so aware that I was entering a holy place.

These moments were holy because they were set apart, at least for these people- the loss they felt as they suffered, it created a cavern of need and a newly formed canyon of pain they had not had just a few hours before. And I was present for it.

These experiences made me ponder deeply how we respond to people when they are in those places. Do we recognize when others are experiencing their own sacred moments, when they are so raw and exposed that God draws near and their moment is forever touched? Do we recognize the sacredness amid the busyness, so that we draw along side them and sit in silence for those moments so they aren't alone there?

It is easier to be present for people in the ER, these that I don't know or those whose pain I will not follow or likely ever experience with them again. It is harder to seek out those sacred moments in those I love, in those I live my life with. It is much more draining to be silent when I share the reasons for pain, or when I have seen the full expanse of their canyons, and it's too much.

But, I am determined this day to look for sacred moments being experienced around me. To draw along side those whose moments are being marked by pain, and their suffering is creating a catherdral of need. Oh, that my eyes can see them. That I can worship alongside them, or for them because they can't. That I can be present, so they aren't there alone.

Have you experienced a sacred moment like these? Did you feel so alone? Did you feel that no one could possibly understand or that you were in a vacuum - the moment before everyone else knew, before the calls started or the plans were made. Did you feel driven to protect that space?

I know I did.

When I got the call about my brother being killed in Iraq, I felt like I was alone in a massive space... a vacuum of loss and pain. I wanted to protect it- to block out all the people who were learning about it, who wanted to console and grieve themselves. No one could understand my pain in that moment, only God could comprehend it.

It was a sacred place because for a little bit it was just me and God.

Just me and my loss.

No other factors had worked in yet. No details, no funeral arrangements. No choosing of caskets was necessary yet, or taxes needing filed for the deceased. There was just loss. Pain. Grief. And, God.

Some people dont have that. They don't feel God there. In their pain is only suffering. They may not see the cathedral. But we do.

May we each draw near to those people who need us to help them see, to experience the awe for them. To be present with them, to worship on their behalf and to comfort them in their sacred spaces. May we always appreciate the honor we have in being there when we get caught up in others' sacred place, so we do not defile it in any way.

Have you shared a sacred space with someone? Did it change you ? Or them?

That should be a legit saying.

Pride does come before clutter. It can also come during clutter, and when you are trying to get rid of clutter. 

That is coming from someone who has been wrestling with both for a bit now. 

 I learned that pride and clutter are a thing when I first started making my transition from "Big House" (2500 sq ft)  to our "Little House"(900 sq ft) about two and a half years ago. I picked up on the connection fairly early, as I was facing the reality of having to downsize so significantly. 

I was ready to make the move, but the mountain of stuff before me was overwhelming. I wanted to make progress towards simplicity, but man, did it feel daunting. As I was facing the giant that was my over-filled home, I learned that there as a significant connection between my stuff, my pride and my getting rid of said stuff. At first I would not have called it pride. I would have called it being "practical" or not being "wasteful". I would have argued that we needed what had "just in case." But, the ugly monster soon showed its bad side and I saw it for what it was, and I have been fighting it ever since.

Pride can be connected to our clutter in a few ways, and it is not always in keeping clutter, believe it or not. We can find pride meeting us at every part of our decluttering journey, before, middle and once you are well on your way. 

First, pride can cause us to hold on to things that we don't need or really want because having it says something about us to the rest of the world.

Or, at least we want it to.

My area of prideful hoarding was with school related things. As a homeschool mom, I constantly feel a need to hold on to lots of school books, educational things, supplies and school-y things so that I will look legit. The more packed my school shelves are, the more "real" school experience I am giving my kids. Or, so I wanted my stuff to say. Our stuff can say other things on our behalf too, like having lots of kitchen stuff says we are a good cook or lots of calendars means we are organized. We look to our stuff to create an image for us, and sometimes we use stuff to say things about us that may not be true OR something that is true, regardless of what our stuff says. 

Another one I have run into is also related to what people think, but in a different way. 

I struggle with what not having things looks like to others.

When we started limiting our kids wardrobe, I really really struggled with how that would look to others. I didn't want people to think we couldn't afford clothes or more shoes, if we wanted to. I didn't want our less to appear not enough. I also really struggled with how for the first year or so of our living in the Little House, my youngest slept on a mattress on the floor. He was totally fine with that, I was the only one who struggled. Maybe you can relate with how it feels to have fewer shoes, kid toys, books on the bookshelf or different choices in the pantry than a lot of people ..what will they think, for goodness sake?! 

Interestingly, pride can also come into play when it comes to living on less as well because we are proud of ourselves for doing it (we are complex creatures).

Taking the road less traveled can give us an innate sense of pride that can plant itself deep in our hearts, if we aren't careful. Since learning to live more simply, I honestly have struggled at times with feeling prideful because of we have chosen to live with less. Being part of a virtual community online who strives the same way, I can tell you that pride rears its ugly head at times for all of us. 

In all these cases, pride leads us to consider what others think as our primarily motivation. We are thinking about how we appear to others, rather than how we need to best use our resources. 

Using our resources well is the primary motivation for godly simple living. Using what we have been given for our own good work, whether it is space, or things, or our wardrobe, allows us to turn our eyes away from what other think of us. We can't hold on to things because of how it will look to others, and we can't look to others to approve our desire to be content with less (whether for the good, or bad). 

Being really honest with ourselves about why we keep things, or why we don't is a big part of beating pride away. When we hold on to anything, be it books, cars, spices (true story), school supplies or anything we can ask, "Why do I need to keep this? Does it have anything to do with what others think?"  

Also, if you are intent on revealing what role pride plays in your clutter - ask. Ask God to show you if pride is an issue with your over abundance, and be willing confess it if he shows you.