Daniel, the one who has a book in the Bible named for his story, found himself as a young man in the palace of the most powerful king of the time. He was surrounded by luxury, wealth, rich food.
He and his friends asked to be spared from the rich food and be allowed to eat simple, yet nutritious meals of fruits and vegetables. Their health proved their wisdom.
Later (Chapter 5), he is offered wealth and position for interpreting some mysterious writing on a wall. He told them to keep the rewards, but he would interpret the writing.
I do not advocate New Year’s Resolutions or goals. For several years, I’d write out a list of goals every year–I’d weigh x amount, I’d write a book (or something), etc. It never really worked.
What worked was seeing myself in the future–how I looked, what I had accomplished, what my ministry would be, and so on. Then, I planned my days to build habits to work toward those visions.
One habit is to look around your life and your surroundings at least once per year and see what you’ve accumulated that you don’t need. If, unlike Daniel’s example, we didn’t turn down things before we got them, then it is timely to get rid of things in order to simplify our life.
I’ve done this for years. Get rid of “stuff” laying around that has no use. Get rid of toxic relationships. Get rid of things that grab my time so that I can focus on doing the things I want.
Too much “stuff” is a burden; it is an obstacle to living a life focused on God.
Tags: attention, Discipline, focus, simplicity
Faith Venture 
January 16, 2015 at 8:31 am |
I have never been a New Year’s resolution person. The past couple of years though I have adopted the 3 word approach. This year my 3 words are Simplify, Process, Depth – 1 new process is Fridays are purge day – I try to get rid of stuff and hopefully this will allow me to get rid of even more stuff. Thanks, good word.