Ten Minute Mystic: Part 4: Growing in Possessions through Simplicity (3)

 

Richard Foster in his book Freedom of Simplicity writes that many of us try to live beyond our financial means and beyond our emotional means.[i]  When it comes to our financial means, we spend too much, want too much, and waste too much.  When it comes to our emotional means, we work too hard, say yes too often, and fill our schedule too full.  Why do we do this?  This is a result of our desire to have the exceptional life.  We want to have it all—but it comes at too high a cost.

Simplicity is a discipline which helps us to living within our means—financially and emotionally.  Simplicity is a habit through which we abandon the pursuit of the exceptional life and instead reach for the life Jesus envisions for us in the Sermon on the Mount.

Foster writes that simplicity is made possible by three attitudes.[ii]  First, we learn to view things we have received as gifts from God.  All our material possessions are gifts from God.  Second, we view what we have received as things to be cared for by God.  God is able to protect what we possess.  We can trust him.  Finally, we understand these things to be available to others.  We do all we can to supply the needs of others through what God has given to us.  These three attitudes enable simplicity. 

The opposite three attitudes lead instead to anxiety over possessions.  If we view things we have received as the fruits of our own labor, and if we view them as truly belonging to us, and if we do not make them available for others, eventually we are led into anxiety and worry regarding possessions.

Here are some “Simple Suggestions.”[iii]  Pick one to focus on and pray about today:

#45) Serve sacrificially.

#46) Learn to enjoy things without owning them

#47) Receive what you have as a gift, not an entitlement

#48) Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.

#49) Develop a habit of giving things away

#50) Look with healthy skepticism on all “buy now, pay later” schemes

#51) Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.

#52) Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God

#53) Ruthlessly eliminate hurry

#54) Deliberately drive in the slow lane.

#55) Declare a fast from honking

#56) For a week, eat your food slowly

#57) Get in the longest check-out line.

#58) Go one day without wearing a watch

#59) If you haven’t worn it in a season, get rid of it

#60) If you have to do complicated logarithms to justify something, don’t buy it.

#61) Resolve relationship conflict

#62) Spend some time in solitude

#63) Focus just on loving God and loving people.

#64) Keep the main thing the main thing

 #65) Don’t schedule or attend meetings back to back

#66) Make a budget.

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[i] Richard Foster Freedom of Simplicity Revised and Updated (HarperOne, 2005), 108-109.

[ii] Richard Foster The Celebration of Discipline Revised and Expanded (Harper & Row, 1978), 88-89.

[iii] Simple suggestions are compiled from the following sources: Richard Foster Freedom of Simplicity (HarperOne, 2005); Elaine St. James Simplify Your Life (Hyperion, 1994); H. Norman Wright Simplify Your Life And Get More Out of It! (Tyndale, 1998); Richard Foster, “The Discipline of Simplicity,” Simpler Living, Compassionate Life edited by Michael Schut (Living the Good News, 1999), 180-189; John Ortberg The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Zondervan, 1997); Kim Thomas Simplicity (Broadman & Holman, 1999).

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