Join us online for our 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning Worship Celebration service:
|
|
Plus, contact the church office for information on how to join the adult
Jubilee Sunday School class, now meeting through Zoom!
|
|
Spiritual Practices: Simplicity (Part I)
|
|
|
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;
but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
~Matthew 6:19-21
|
|
Photo by Levelord from Pixabay cropped and modified with photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash
|
|
I don’t know about you, but I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff over my lifetime. Perhaps it’s the teacher in me, or maybe it was growing up with parents who knew how to reuse and repurpose just about anything. It doesn’t really matter how I got into the habit. The truth is I "save things because I might need them some day.” I have needed some of those things, but the reality is that many of them are still tucked away, awaiting their day of glory.
The Jubilee Sunday School Class has been studying spiritual practices this month, and some of the wisdom from their discussion is worth passing along. First, what’s a spiritual practice? It’s something that we practice over and over again. It’s not something that we do perfectly, but something that we keep working at because it is part of our relationship with God.
One of the spiritual practices that was studied by the Jubilee Class in recent weeks was simplicity. You might wonder what simplicity has to do with one’s relationship with God? When our lives are filled with things, and appointments, and everything we have to do, there is little time left for God.
When I left teaching and moved from the home I’d lived in for 13 years in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma I didn’t think I would ever get the house cleaned out. I had accumulated years of teaching supplies, and a good friend of mine spent hours helping me sort through all the stuff. Finally, I set a lot of things out on the driveway. When a first-year teacher came along and was overjoyed at finding all those teaching materials it made all the purging I’d done seem worthwhile. That “stuff” blessed her life, and her joy blessed mine.
What are the things in your life that have accumulated until they are taking up too much space? What are things you own that you no longer use that would “bless” the life of someone else if you gave them away or dropped them off for a charitable organization to sell?
There’s a parable in Luke 12:16-20 that tells of a man who had a great harvest. His crops produced so much that he decided to build bigger barns to hold all the wealth. Then he planned to “eat, drink, and be merry.” That night he died. And all of his wealth was left behind.
Simplicity as a spiritual practice means making room in our lives for those things that are really important…the things we hold in our hearts. What are those things for you?
Wouldn’t you like to spend less time taking care of “stuff” and more time doing those things that make your heart sing?
When we are doing things we love and sharing our lives with God and other people we make beautiful memories. Memories of those moments don’t take up much space, but my guess is that they are among your most valued possessions.
With you for the journey,
Donna
|
|
|
|