The one about: Minimalism

If you have been following me for the last couple of month's I have been talking about this desire to get rid of excess, to consume less, to embrace a simpler living, and to essentially live with less {a trendy known word the world kind of adopted for it all is: minimalism}.

Here is our story behind the story....

Towards the fall and winter of last year the Lord was working! I mean really working! He was bringing about several answers to prayer in my personal life in regards to reconciliation of relationships, coupled with overhauling our finances, and now these little lifestyle changes we were so desiring, and we were getting ready to embark on. It was then I was introduced to a concept called "Minimalism" after watching a documentary on Netflix one night around Christmas. I immediately jumped off the seat of our couch! There is truly a name for this LESS IS MORE living...and it's called Minimalism? So, I did what any bible believer does who holds a biblical worldview about something, I began to see how this all lined up with scripture as I know Minimalism is not a biblical term recognized in the bible. 

But what I discovered was fascinating, and has floored me, and spurred me on towards a way of living that I believe Christ lived essentially, and desired for His followers. The world may call it Minimalism...but at the core of this concept it is basically biblical. In this blog I hope to share with you some fascianting things I have learned as my family, and I have sought out little by little to truly understand, and seek God's way to live in this culture of excess we are surrounded by.

So we sold our home back in February this past year, and in just a month we took our 2600+ 2 story home and downsized it to right under 2000 sq feet. Doesn't seem like much of a downsize, but our 2 car garage, and extra storage unit at the time definitely said otherwise. I remember back in March as we started unloading our boxes I was getting extremely overwhelmed, and frustrated, and anxious, and annoyed. I could not believe all this STUFF that we accumulated in almost 8 years of marriage, and living in our first home together. God had already been working on my heart specifically it other areas of my life months prior to all of this, and this was just another area that I felt He was wanting to work on with me personally, and our family as a whole.

After paying off tons of debt with the sale of our home, and cutting up numerous of credits cards we sat the kitchen table one night after a week of being in our rental home, and looked at each other, and vowed to never get ourselves in this position again! We then prayed, and asked the Lord's forgiveness, and Holy Spirit's help going forward.

I remember over the next few weeks I became more and more weighed down, and burdened. Not with all of our financial stuff as we had just had the weight of debt paid off, but I was getting weighed down by the left over material possessions from the debt we paid off. If that makes sense? We were swimming in boxes from our move. It was time to get serious and start this purge process, but the Holy Spirit was wanting to purge some issues in my heart too. 

So we finally got our storage unit cleaned out, and hauled several trips of our things to our already packed out garage. At one point hubby and I just looked at each other and said... "I dont even care what is in all these boxes...can we just drop all this off at Goodwill?" These were all the boxes we had not even opened in roughly 4 months prior to the sell of our home as I was boxing things getting ready for listing. I could not even remember what was in those boxes, but I knew whatever it was we were doing completely FINE without it all!!

As weeks went by and unboxing carried on, still carries on, we began to specifically pray that the Lord would help us to be good stewards of our finances. To be intentional with what things we choose to keep and donate/sell or toss. Things that we choose to steward, and maintain, and devote our time, and energy into. To truly think about our spending habits, and honor the Lord with our possessions, and our bank statements. To work into us a spirit of generosity, and help cultivate that in our kids. To help us all around just be better stewards of all He has given us whether that be a thing or a relationship with others, and to help us to get SELF out of the way so we can make room for more of Him, and what was truly important.

I want to now share just a little bit of what I have personally learned on this journey so far towards well...less. I know this is a long read, so I understand if you don't get through it all, but I have been wanting to write down my heart for several weeks now in regards to this instead of little tid bits, and paragraphs here and there on Facebook about it. My hope is that this will truly minister to someone, inspire someone, and bring glory to God alone. Not me. I am just a vessel, and we are just on this little journey leaning into Him and pressing into His will, and relying on His Spirit to teach us how to live more abundantly. 

Here are some of the things {in bullet point format} that I have learned so far:

**It's not how much stuff we necessarily own, it's how much your stuff owns you.

**We are conditioned as American's to be sold to, advertised to, marketed to, and tempted hundreds of times a day to spend, buy, consume, purchase, and over indulge in someTHING.......but we can choose to say NO.

** "Minimalism" has been a tool for me to pick up my things one by one, and ask myself intentionally deep questions like: "Why do I have this?" "What led me to buy this?", and the answer honestly 9 times out of 10 have led me to the root sin issue of "covetousness or lack of self-control." 

** When we desire less and spend less and steward less and clean less and have less and maintain less YOU HAVE SO MUCH MORE FREE TIME! And time that can be spent on eternal pursuits or things that truly matter.  

We downsized our laundry load by almost 3 loads now. I have given away or rid of numerous amounts of odds and ends and kids toys that are missing pieces, and that they never play with...which has led us to less picking up and cleaning. We downsized our home to a 1 story ranch which had led us to less cleaning, and less filling of our home with possessions and things we do not need. This honestly has resulted in less of a cluttered mind, less anxiety, and less stress levels. Studies have shown anxiety, stress, and even mental illness, like depression, can be linked to the accumulation of too much excessive personal belongings and things in your environment. It is absolutely amazing the weight you feel lifted after a good purge of possessions!

**Speaking of root sin issues....it has led me to re-evaluate my relationship with Christ and others. A cluttered, messy over indulged home can be a physical manifestation of a cluttered mind, and messy heart, and chaos in my relationships with others. I said "can be" because I know there are many stream-lined clutter free peeps out there that deal with other sins, but it may manifest for them in a different way.

** It has been a tool to help us identify our wants vs needs.

**Minimalism doesn't start in the purging of what's in the closet, it starts in the purging of what's in the heart. 

and....biblically speaking as a follower of Christ:

** One of the Fruit's of the Spirit in a Born Again believer's life is ~Self Control~ this goes hand in hand with our want, and temptation to accumulate, and acquire more possessions, and excess things. {Galatians 5:22-23}

** ~During the Sermon on the Mount Christ talked about our money, and giving to the poor, the needy, and the use of our possessions and treasures {Matthew 5,6,7}... "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."~Matthew 6:19-21

** Check out the story of the Rich Young Ruler ~Matthew 19:16-22

** The book of Ecclesiastes, the book of Wisdom, is all about the vanities and meaningless chasings of pursuits and things in life! 

** In Act's the disciples were selling their possessions and giving to those who were in need. {Acts 2:45} Although, we know they were empowered by the Holy Spirit, I do also believe that this is such an important biblical model, and way of life that is the heart and love of Christ at work that lacks greatly in the church today. We see here that their things were clearly not needed or desired, but gave to those who did need them.

** "And Jesus answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." Luke 3:11 Ah!!! This verse rocks me! I find it so interesting, and neat, and fascinating that Christ in essence is adopting a "minimalist" command here. LOL! It helps me to look to my Lord in just this verse alone, and realize on a personal level...I truly don't need 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 of a thing. I can truly have just 1 and be content, and share my rest with others who don't have any or much less.

**We can cultivate a spirit of generosity in our children by giving away our excess to those in need.

**We can adopt a new attitude and way of life that Christ calls us to. He warned the disciples in Luke 12:15 after speaking with a man who was wanting Jesus to judge the splitting of his inheritance....“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” If you read further in the next scriptures 16-21 Christ warns against being rich in abundance of SELF, but not being rich towards God. 

**There are so many more scriptures I can list off here...but to sum it all up "Minimalism" from a biblical standpoint can truly be summed as this:           

                  More of Jesus less of me  {Mark 1:7}

                       Less of me more of Others  {Philippians 2:3}


Less of self and the abundance of what this world has to offer, and more of Christ, and His way, and His truth, and His life, and the abundance of what He offers!

In closing, a couple of nights ago I created this Facebook Album called ~Less is More~ and was going to post in there often about our minimalist downsizing journey, and show pics of areas in our home we de-cluttered, and possessions we gave and were giving away etc. I was really excited about it. More so, I was just really super proud of the fact that I was able to get my makeup products down from like 75 to 20, and although my intentions were at the right place I believe I felt the Holy Spirit instructed me to take it down. 
1 Corinthians 13:3 says..... 

~And if I may give away all my possessions, and I may deliver up my body to be burned that I may boast, but have not LOVE, I gained nothing.~

In essence....minimalism is just a tool. It is NOT the Gospel of Jesus. It is not what saves you, frees you from sin, or changes you from the inside out, and true lasting FREEDOM from owning less stuff is not found in the way of minimalism. It is found in the complete LOVE OF CHRIST. And if His precious Holy Spirit isn't fueling our motives, and actions, and even out desires our minimalism attempts are just benevolence, and doing something really cool, admirable and you'll have a freakishly decluttetred home and schedule.  

I don't want to be known as the gal and a family that decided to showcase their journey towards owning less, and giving more, and come off as promoting this false minimalist gospel! 

So at the end of the day...please hear me when I say....Minimalism is JUST A TOOL. As biblical as the model may seem....still look to Jesus, and seek His will for yourself, and have Him direct you, and your family towards His way of living.

God is still working on me, and so thankful He is NEVER done with any of us.

My hope and prayer is truly one would be inspired, and spurred on to Love and Good Works in Christ, and to do an honest internal and external examination of their heart, thoughts, and life.

Because so much of what we buy, and have stored up...speaks volumes of where our heart is and what's in there.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy blog post!!!! Truly less is not more in my writing! HEHE :)

I am sure I will write more as we journey along! 

Blessings!

xoxo

{If you are interested in exploring more of "minimalism" from a biblical standpoint or as a starting point I got several resources I could recommend! Just shoot me a message!}