"Nature wears the colors of the spirit" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson This is a post on minimalism This thanksgiving I am grateful for the wild things—the things bringing order to the chaos, growing where the seed is cast and pushing diligently through the dirt. They strike the resonant chord; they play the secret melody unlocking my soul. Order and pattern and control are desirable to me, and when I live in my own created world, I find these things. But I find them in tiny pieces that leave me hungrier. And the more I strive to contain and predict the more I find the world bigger than I can master. This swings me to despair in my shortcomings, followed by gratitude for my humanity. Verily, knowing a world beyond my control persuades me to join the awe-inspiring, soul-cleansing glory of a natural melody. This melody is my promise. A promise to engage in both purpose and place. Not purpose to manipulate and oppress, but to tend, to care, to contribute. I am not the master, I am in the composition. And in this composition, I recognize life as a pleasing sacrifice, an aromatic offering, to a God who creates the universe and all that is in it. We are worship. And our worship is manifest in free-will offerings of thanks for the gift of purpose, and in our diligence to harmony, humility, and reverence. The purpose of the wild things is to grow together, and in their wildness, not their conformity, to create order. This means, for me, losing my Christian Consumerism, my perfect ideology, and recognizing that “becoming more like Jesus” is not a command to go and gather to myself more of the Jesus sold on the street. It is an invitation to see the Jesus planted within me and give him a space and environment to grow. “Follow me” is a command to rest, and to let go of the reins as I join the world in worshiping the one who set the stars, who put the wind under the eagle’s wings, the one who lives in me. Dear Reader, if you made it this far, I am going to encourage you to set your worldview as something in which you are not the center. You are meant to be more.
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and other words that bring me JOYHave you been there? Slumped back against a cold wall, incapable of reaching out to someone you love to take their pain away. Sitting silently, helplessly, while they struggle with their demons. Praying with all your might that just your presence is enough to push them through a season. Have you been the one lying in the quiet of the dark questioning your worth? Have you begged for an answer or a sign? Have you stood familiarly in the place where emotion goes numb and nothing seems to matter but the ability to breathe? Have you held a hand full of boiling anger while you hurl baseballs at a chain link fence, tears streaming down your face, with no explanation? Have you sat in a torrential downpour feeling rain beat heavy against your skin wondering what you said, what you did, what you should have done and if you’ll ever be the person you want to be? Have you looked in the mirror and felt shame? Have you felt the sting of loneliness and sought the wrong cure? Have you tried to meet an expectation and come up short? Have you felt rejection? Real, true and honest rejection. The kind you can’t blame or explain away. The kind that shows up like an old friend you hoped you'd never see again. Have you been there? Me too. And in these times when I feel utterly lost, alone, confused and angry, the inertia of my life starts to build. And as it builds I am less and less confident in my ability to be effective or responsible. I seldom catch these feelings of lostness and aloneness and confusion and anger before they start to tear a destructive path through my life. And even when I uncover them they are a challenge to reverse. I need words to make them stop. To reverse them. To overcome them. I need words to take in and words to spill out. And today the word is "Therefore,". I read it today, and it was an instant milestone, a minute I'll point to and say, "right then the thing happened that made the difference." Here is context: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Therefore is a pivot word. It means, in light of these facts, or as a consequence of. All the words prior to this pivot word are tales of righteous people who chose to make a decision for a long-term instead of immediate reward. Stories are recounted of humans who threw off kingship to be among slaves, people who made themselves vulnerable because they believed in a promise, people who made unpopular choices and suffered ridicule, and very real and tangible consequence for choosing faith. These people had faith in the unseen and they were clinging to a belief in righteousness, when all around them wickedness earned instantaneous and tangible reward. The author proceeds, after telling stories of people who accomplished unfathomable feats in the midst of difficulty with the word Therefore. And that is a joyful and terrifying word. Therefore, is my invitation. It is the great and glorious promise to the Christ-follower and it is the synopsis of the Bible. The author says, "Look at these stories. Look at the themes. Now let that encourage you to go do." Therefore is a big ask. Maybe not even an ask. More like a command to step out in faith and believe goodness prevails even if it is unseen--even when it means there may be suffering attached. Therefore means "keep going and have faith God will help". Have faith to remember the why when it seems the darkness is closing all around. Have faith to lie on the ground staring at the stars and believe the will of God is not understandable, but it is good. Have faith that, "I am that I am" is enough. Rest securely in the hand of God knowing he provides. This is my faith, that there is joy in my future and residing within me is a will to persist. And always I am seeking him and turning towards him and knowing more and more the unfathomable nature of my father, my creator, and my Lord. Who, by his great grace, endured the cross and took on my sin. By his great wisdom gifted me the Holy Spirit to alight my soul with hope and knowledge that, even in my fear and failure, in my despair and striving, in my utter lostness, when I drop to my knees and seek him He will respond with resounding voice like quiet snow drifting on a dark night, "Keep going." And I am restored. The Grower of Trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
This is a post on minimalism
It’s easy to conceptualize sunk cost. It's hard to come to grips with it. We all possess gaps in knowledge and a propensity to defer blame. When Bob the project manager spends $50,000 on a machine, but the product line fails to turn a profit, Bob should not continue to expend resources because he made a bad decision. Sunk cost is unrecoverable. We've all been Bob at some point, and struggled to make the cut for a variety of reasons. Like Reason 1: Acknowledging sunk costs requires a lot of humility. Have you seen someone argue diligently about something when they know they're wrong? This is economically irrational behavior, and it happens all the time to some of the smartest people in the world. Sunk cost is hard to stomach. But that's a bad reason to keep going down the wrong road. That list up at the top there is what is keeping me from going in the right direction. Right now, I’ve sunk cost, time and energy, into numerous things without finishing any of them. I’m spending time re-watching shows and scrolling through social media because I feel overwhelmed at my inability to move forward with everything at once. To move forward I need to cut back. And to cut back I need to do some cost-benefit analysis. I need to take Dr. Henry Cloud’s advice and do some pruning. “Pruning is strategic. It is directional and forward-looking.” Because my emotions are scattered, and I am lacking vision I'm going to put my thoughts, dreams, goals and activities into a spreadsheet and measure them against my values. This weekend I will categorize things as Immediately relevant Achieve in the short term Achieve in the Long Term Let Go Then I will put these activities through the value filter, and will audit them against my current time expenditure. All of this helps me to see things with better long-term vision and it also helps to lose my hoarder mentality and the arrogant emotion preventing the release of sunk costs. Then I can do more with my hands and less with my brain. Here is an interlude of differentiation between wisdom/intelligence and extreme pragmatism vs. the feathery line of a good life. Sometimes it’s good for emotional decisions to take the place of rational ones. When I have vested emotion and effort in things that are purposeful, it’s good to carry that responsibility with tenacity. Value is measured in a variety of ways and profitability should never be a word used to justify selfishness. Back to today's lesson. “Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Here is what I am asking myself: Do you have the courage to close a book that you have not finished and make peace with it? Do you have the courage to say, “this is a good thing, but it is not for this season”? Do you have the courage to take the necessary action to deal with the things you need to care about? Do you have the vision to order today so it lines up with your values? These are my encouragements to you dear reader, and to myself. Answer all these questions with a YES. Because we do have that courage. It lives in us every day. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, perform whatever your version of a spreadsheet is. Talk it out with another human you trust. Do something to get the feedback and perspective to turn necessary endings into a beautiful life. For more help with this topic check out the YouTube clip posted below. It is a 45 minute talk by best-selling author Dr. Henry Cloud. Also, if you're feeling overwhelmed carve out a bit of time to hit your knees. God never promised your life would be comfortable and easy. He promised he would help. If you are not a subscriber, and you want to be, click subscribe and enter your email to get a weekly update. A share is always appreciated. SUBSCRIBE
This is a garage sale post. I hope you find something you like I haven’t had a cohesive thought all week. Here is a mixed bag of raw notes in the last 7 days. Hope something sticks.
Dear Reader, everything here is free. But only take what you need for this week. Focus on it. And let the rest go. I solemnly swear to uphold the standards of creative content in next week's post. If you are not a subscriber, and you want to be, click subscribe and enter your email to get a weekly update. A share is always appreciated. SUBSCRIBE
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I'm a Hoosier. I like the outdoors. Taxes are my job. I write for a living. This Blog
Writing my way to an adult life of minimalism, sustainability, and joy rooted in Truth. I'm learning, unlearning, and relearning.
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