I will simplify

The last couple of weeks despite the chaos of regular life as a parent, my mind and heart are being stretched. I’m constantly thinking. Even though I had become used to being too tired to think. It all comes down to bettering. Bettering myself so I can be better to the world around me. I’ve always thought of myself as a simple person who likes less and who desires to live simply. And although that is more or less true, I’ve also realized that I have a envious heart and sometimes say I love simple in order to find peace with having less. Tim often reminds me that we need to check ourselves when we criticize others for their pride in material goods because it is a reflection of the pride in our own hearts. I have one amazing husband!

God is dealing with who I am at the very core. I really do want to be someone who lives life simply. I want to live happily with the minimal. I want to teach my children to be happy with who they are even if they had no worldly possessions. But that means I have to learn the lesson first. What parts of my life are luxury and expendable? I have to be careful how I word this because I don’t want to single out other people. Everyone is on their own journey and some will live a wealthier life than others and that’s ok. I’m not talking about wealth really, I’m talking about what parts of us end up being dictated by the material. When I wake up and get dressed in the morning (or the afternoon sometimes), I am a woman so I like to look nice. My grandmother used to say, “keep your man’s eyes at home”, so I do try and look put together. But what part of me wants to be beautiful for my husband or for myself and then what part of me wants to fit into society? I apologize if this is a ramble of a blog post. I may wrongfully be using today’s post as a diary to myself but I thought there were probably some people out there who may also be encouraged or need to hear some of this.

What do I teach Elle if I need to put on makeup everyday? What do I teach Owen if I complain about what I have to wear on any given morning? I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And although I will be clean, brush my hair and do my best to look nice. I won’t spend time crying over how many clothes I have. I won’t spent countless hours on my hair. I won’t spend time complaining about who I am. God made me good. He said so.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them… God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:27, 31. NASB)

With simplifying myself, I will simplify my schedule. A lot of that means spending less time online. I realize that is a paradox when I am online as I write this. But it’s not about removing things, it’s balance. Right now, I am organizing my own thoughts in my own time when my beautiful babes are playing with their grandparents. Yesterday I made a point to ignore my work and give my day 100% to my children. This is a challenge for me as a business owner when I can see the to-do list piling up in my head. So I would check my phone, respond to texts then turn the sound ON and take it out of my pocket and put it on a table somewhere. If someone needed me I would here it, but otherwise my phone could wait. Pastor Mark talked about it on Sunday morning and it confirmed a lot of what I’d already been processing. I really appreciated the sermon on generosity (If you have some time you should listen to the podcast. It’s not up yet but when it is, check out July 21st.) I did also know that today would be my photography work and personal reflection day so I knew my computer could wait. I thoroughly enjoyed my kids. We went for a long walk around the Walkerville area then when Elle went down for her nap Owen and I played. We caught the rain with our tongues.  I want to show Owen pleasure in the simple things.

And lastly we as a family want to live simply in our activities. This one comes quite naturally to both Tim and I. We are naturally artistic, reflective and natural loving people. Photography is my personal, as well as professional outlet. I feel so honoured to be able to see things differently than the way many other people do. My mom tells a story of me being a little girl looking up into the sky and showing her, “Look, isn’t it beautiful?” and she still says to this day that she couldn’t see what I did. I believe a bit part of my talent in photography is a gift from God to show people how beautiful the world around them is and more importantly, how beautiful they are.

How beautiful is this menacing weed growing at the front of our house? I didn’t pull it out before out of pure laziness but look how lovely it is! Although it will have to come out soon before the fall has it attaching little burrs to our clothes.

Tim’s outlet as you know has been running. Just a little plug for him, he just started a blog of his very own. Running the Flatlands. He is an inspiration to me.

Well, my rambling has come to an end for today. I would love to hear from you about ways you simplify your life – emmaldavidson@hotmail.com