Go! Just go!

Overwhelmed by information?

Got too much to do? Too little time? Perhaps it's time to clear the path. To pare your life into its wonderful essentials.

Many of our key choices won't rest on saying yes to great opportunities. Instead, the bulk of life-changing decisions involve saying no to unessentials and lesser things.

"Minimalism" and "living with less" is a current fad. Why? We have TOO MUCH surrounding us. Our brains get confused and overwhelmed by trivial. Details demand to be touched or negotiated.

Collecting too much of a good thing?

How was your morning? In the closet, did your trousers,  jackets, and shirts (blouses)  hang willy-nilly. Did choosing your outfit take more than a few minutes?

Instead of an easy 10-minute routine, did you root through the "plenty" in the bathroom for basics? Sort through skin cream / makeup and scramble for a fresh tube of toothpaste? Hesitate about which shampoo to use in the shower? Argh. Was there even time for a shower? Were you running late with too much to do before you left the house?

Was the rest of the day similar? Were you exhausted and discouraged by nightfall ... because you had too many plates and too much on those places. Did you drown in the details?

The top shelf "during":
piles pushed to one side
to install separators

As readers know, I'm on a clearing streak.  I've been sorting things I no longer use out of my life. This morning the top rack of my closet fell victim to my efforts. I'm glad I forgot to snap a picture of the before, with sweaters and tops leaning on each other. I recorded the during and after.

EEEK. That's all I can say. Eeek!

The top shelf "after': sorted into types (turtlenecks,
sweaters, T-shirts, etc.)

I'm no perfectionist: so what if the folded stacks lean a bit. I'm no minimalist: I kept clothes I've recently worn. I'm not obsessive about details: who cares about color coding? As with cooking, my creative method is to stand in front of the possibilities and quickly pluck items to go "into the soup" or on my back.

But I've been startled by this common sense, which eluded me before. As the house gets more orderly, it's becoming easier to define other choices. To say "Yes" to things that God is calling me to, and "No" to expectations that don't align with what I hear in prayer, meditation on God's Word, or from the counsel of those I trust.

Just the basics, please!

Some mornings when my toes touch the ground, I hear a little voice urging, "Go girl! Just go!" The hurdles and obstacles to a productivity seems fewer and further between with so many "NO!s" in the recent past.

How would you define your recent choices? Is there time to think? To reflect? Then to move "full steam ahead" once your course is charted?

Or is your life cluttered with so much "good" that the way forward seems impossible?

Read more:
*A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:1-2 NIV

*Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26 NIV

*God says, “From this time forward I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known.” Isaiah 48:6

*Let anyone with ears to hear listen! Luke 8:8

Moravian Prayer: Holy Redeemer, as we face another day, enable us to spend quality time in communion with you. Touch our listening ears and teach us how to have a closer walk with you. In your name we pray. Amen.