A Prayer as You Begin to Minimize - Pt. 4
An invitation to move slow and intentionally live
This is the final week in which I’m diving deep into our minimalistic lifestyle and how it’s opened up the holy space of decluttering my home, heart, and mind. I’d love to hear your thoughts and journey together as I invite you a little closer to something that’s been so life-giving to my family. I pray it’s a blessing to you.
The everyday lives we live are often so complex and deeply layered. We hold painful stories, surreal realities, and future fears that are layered and would never be categorized as simple. Integrating minimalism, simplicity, intentional living (or whatever you want to call it) in your life is not a solution to anything—it is to be an arrow always pointed toward Jesus. We often look around at our lives and think, “Is this all there is? There has to be something more.”
There is more.
There is so much more when less is involved.
Less noise.
Less busyness.
Less talking.
Less stuff.
Less production.
Less hurry.
Let us hold the invitation of less to bring us more of Jesus.
I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; how singular an affair he thinks he must omit. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all incumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run. - Henry Thoreau
A Prayer as You Begin to Minimize
Oh God of all, we thank you for the goodness that is the world we live and breathe in.
Creation declares your glory on this earth.
The rocks sing to you.
We, your image-bearers, reflect the deep love that your hands intentionally designed.
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There are times on this earth, where it all feels too much—
the hate that we see being thrown around us,
the busyness that rules our schedules,
the noise that deafens our lives,
the possessions that we look to for comfort,
the hurried pace we are so used to.
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Oh God of all, our hearts know there is more of you.
There is more of you in the smile from a stranger on a hard day.
More of you in the wet eye lashes of a baby taken from the bath.
More of you in the smell of warm bread fresh out of the oven.
More of you in the coziness of a warm blanket wrapped around us.
More of you in the book that is your Word.
More of you in the tender flicker of a candle’s flame.
More of you in the air we live and breathe.
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We ask that you slow us down enough to peel back the pieces of our lives and hearts that are not drawing us closer to you.
Invite us more into the slow work of God.
Invite us more into the tenderness of Your love.
Invite us more into the the steadiness of who you are.
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May we remember that more of You is always enough.
May we hold close that we are always held in Your hands.
May we live in a way that draws us even closer to the depths of Your love.
Amen
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