A Calling

It was the end of week long bible camp and they were going around asking what the kids would take away from the week.  The came to a kid who was pretty quiet all week.  He thought for a minute and said "Well, I guess, it should have been me on that cross."  The singer of this song was one of the leaders of the group.  When the group broke up he went off by himself.  He came back 20 minutes later and sang this song to the boy who had made the comment.

Now, I don't want your faith to get in the way of what I want to talk about.  What struck me about the story was the giftedness of the singer/songwriter.  He was impacted and moved to write a song and was able to put his words to a tune and perform it in 20 minutes.  That is a person who has found their calling.  

We are all writing a story. In the last week or two, this message has been presented to me from three or four different people in all different settings.  When things like that happen, I believe God is trying to tell me something.  I will go into more depth into story telling in another post, but I think occupation, craft, calling, whatever you want to call it, plays a large role in the story that you tell.  In my journey toward simplicity, the subject of vocation is a recurring, nagging theme (and I don't believe that I am alone).  

When we were kids, was this part of the story we were about to write:

I think a lot of us are doing things to get by, pay the bills, live a certain life.  A life that our younger selves might not even recognize.  You see, I think we complicate things for ourselves by tying our lives down to all of the "modern conveniences" that we "can not live without" (read "In The Beginning" or "Danger Brewing").  Before we know it, are spending 40, 50, 60 hours of our lives doing something that may not fit you, may not fulfill you, may even drain or change you.  So what is the answer?  For me ... to simplify.  Use less.  Spend less.  Want less.  Pray, think again as a child, take a thorough self inventory, identify who I am and start writing a new story.

8/1

August 1st is a big day in our house.  We home school our children and on August 1st our twins, Zoe and Zane, start kindergarten.  Julie, my wife, will now have 3 children in Elementary school (the twins, plus Zach who is going into 4th grade) and 1 child, Zadie, who will be starting her preschool activities.

Also on August 1st, we are eliminating cable/satellite television from our house.  This is our first, big move toward living a simpler life.  This is not necessarily a move against the programming found on television.  In fact we are keeping Netflix internet streaming, which houses most of the shows that they watch  We are fairly selective about what the kids watch and Julie and I watch very little TV any more.  It is not a move against the amount of time that is spent watching TV.  While we would love for our kids to spend more time reading or in creative play, the amount of TV they watch has not become a problem.  Also, it is not a cost issue.  While I will enjoy being able to play with an extra $60 in our budget, the cost was not breaking our backs.

So what is it?  Commercials.

Advertising is based on a very simple philosophy.  First, create a WANT.  Then make that WANT a NEED.  Then make that NEED a NECESSITY.  Finally (but not really), create a new WANT.

Full Disclosure ... I work in an advertising field and have for the past 12 years.  I believe in capitalism and I think that advertising has its place.

Advertising plays an extremely large part in our lives, whether we realize it or not.  Why does television exist?  Television exists to sell you things.  I love NFL football.  The excitement, the strategy, the highs, the lows ... I love it.  I look forward to the start of the season every year.  It is that excitement that has enabled the NFL to receive record breaking television and endorsement contracts.  Breaking this down to the core ... NFL football exists to sell me Miller Lite ... or Nike shoes ... or Ford Trucks ... or ... or ... or.

Please don't get me wrong.  I believe we make our own choices and that we are not victims to some evil corporate conspiracy.  I fear this is whiny ... that's not my point. My point is to use the written word to sort out this journey to simplicity and this is our first attempt.  I just know that I am susceptible to wanting what is marketed to me and that I also see that trait displayed in the buying/wanting habits of my children.

Wanting, coveting and envy are all emotional responses to advertising that subtly attaches to much of what we see.  The definition of addiction is a habit of activity.  Advertising seeks to create habits and influence your activities and if we are not careful, we can develop some pretty unhealthy addictions.

So like the alcoholic that limits their exposure to liquor stores and bars, we will now limit our exposure to the wonderful world of advertising.  (With all that being said ... I can't wait for the start of the NFL season ... GO GIANTS)

"In The Beginning"

When I break simplicity down to the core, a picture churns over and over in my mind ... Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  On the sixth day God created man and woman to oversee the land and the animals.  He then looked over all that he created and it was "excellent in every way."

Now, I know everyone may not be there with me in my beliefs, but substituting Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal man into the story can have the same effect for the case that I am going to make today.  

In the first chapter of Genesis, the author talks about a lot of things that God made.  Light, sky, sea, animals, plants, heavens, earth, people ... But I didn't see one mention of a Wal-Mart.  Not a thought of a Grocery Store.  And I bet the Garden of Eden didn't even have a Starbucks (at least not a drive-thru Starbucks).  No, early man had to live off of the land.  What they could hunt and gather gave them what they would need to make it through the year.  

There is a lesson in there somewhere.  I have grown up to "love" our modern conveniences, but I have a feeling (that pesky feeling again) that I "love" them because I don't know a difference. A couple of examples that have stood out to me lately that I believe are driving that feeling...  

• A realization that we are much happier in the woods than we are in Target.
• A story of someone who came back from a missions trip to a third world area with the realization that a village, he thought would be sad and depressed because of the things they don't have, were happy and content seemingly because they were not aware that they were missing anything.  They were thankful for what they did have and did not have a nature of coveting what they didn't have 
• Another story of a man who took his family on vacation to a secluded, working farm.  They tended to the land and animals during the day and returned to their rustic cottage (void of electricity) by night to eat and laugh and play games that they hadn't played in years.

As I wrote in my last post, I "love" technology.  I am not advocating returning to the days of Adam and Eve. As I said, I think there is a lesson in all of this.  Man and Woman have been around for a really, really, really long time.  The airplane and car are just over one hundred years old.  The internet, personal computers and cell phones have only been available/affordable to the public for the last 25 years or so.  

What I am getting at is that the things, processes and experiences that we "can't live without", were lived without for an extremely long period of time.  So ... “In The Beginning" ... We weren't given much, but it was enough, and it was excellent in every way.

Danger Brewing?

Full disclosure … I love technology.  I sit here connected to my Wi-Fi, typing on my laptop, streaming a music station, browsing pictures taken on my phone that were automatically uploaded to my cloud and accessed through a folder on my computer.  I use GPS. My news comes from apps.  I Facebook, Tweet and Skype.  Within 15 feet of where I sit I have 7 devices connected to the internet.

While this seems a bit obsessive as I write it down, I am sure that a lot of households today have a similar set up.  Technology has become an integral part of a lot of our lives.  So much so that the greatest danger to our country is no longer nuclear or chemical weapons, but an EMP (for more info read this http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-10-26-emp_N.htm).

I hypothesize that there may be a greater danger brewing …

A few years ago some friends of ours adopted a baby girl from China.  Carly, the child, was considered by China to be unadoptable because she is an albino.  In China, an albino is considered to be bad luck and it is likely that Carly was hardly, if ever, held, touched or loved.  If workers did have to touch Carly, they most likely wore gloves, creating the possibility that Carly had not had contact with human skin since birth.

We read this … I read this and the thing that strikes me most is the possibility that little Carly had no human contact for such a long time.  It seems so horrible and sad … and it is. Yet here we are – “plugged” into the world – but unplugged from true reality.  We have hundreds of “friends” but are lucky to have one person we can actually share our hearts with.  By reaching more people, in more places, any time, day or night, we are at the same time creating barriers to real human contact. 

Firsts … steps, words, lost teeth, days of school.  Exciting … vacations, excursions, adventures, news.  Funny … sayings, stories, pictures videos.  I am sure if you scan your Facebook and Twitter feeds you will find your fill of all of this and more. 

Money trouble, alcoholism, depression, loneliness, rejection, panic, desperation, fear, jealousy … how much of this are you seeing of this on your “friends” walls?

I don’t know where I am going with all of this and if you feel judged, please reread the first paragraph.   The purpose of this blog is to begin to figure out how to simplify life … how to make it less complicated and then ultimately more meaningful and rewarding.  

I think from here, we should take a look at the beginning.  Until next time …

Clarity?

It has become quite clear to me as of late that life is not meant to be this complicated … that we are meant to live more simply.  It has not come all at once and I don’t think that the metamorphosis of this realization has ceased and most importantly, I don’t quite know what to do with this information … so I decided to write about it.  Here we go …