Today I met a train Nelson stepped off of after being abroad for a month. My oldest son is a well-traveled man, having literally circumnavigated the globe, making lots of stops along the way. He flies over oceans like I drive to Walmart and never tires of travel, even in 3rd world settings. This is partly because creature-comforts aren’t that important to him.
Years ago Nelson said he hoped never to own more than could fit into one suitcase. Though he’s owned and operated a couple of businesses since then which necessitated larger-than-suitcase possessions, for the most part he’s remained close to his goal.
Nelson has experienced the freedom that comes with owning little. Granted, he doesn’t have a family with its accompanying need for “stuff,” but living life with a focus on trimming possessions to a minimum is a worthy objective for any of us. But keeping life simple isn’t easy, and because we so often fail at this, an entire industry has been developed to help us.
Life coaches guide individuals in the how-to’s of uncomplicating their lives, and TV’s reality shows about hoarding show us what can happen if we don’t. Most of us know deep down that we’re just one garage-full away from the same out-of-control scenario.
So we buy books and magazines that promise solutions to our overstuffed lives: Real Simple, Simplify Everything, How to Simplify Your Life, and Everything You Wanted to Know about Simplifying Your Life. Cover art for these publications stands out as different from the rest. Just looking at them makes us relax our jaws and take a breath.
And that’s the thing about simplifying: it stands out; we stand out. Living an uncluttered life of minimums goes against the grain of a society that’s currently promoting consumerism, accumulation, and the maxim that “he who has the most toys wins.” To live simply requires backbone enough to buck the norm.
When we moved from Illinois to Michigan in 2009, I learned how hard it was to simplify. Two packed houses had to be trimmed to fit one, which meant parting with lots and lots of possessions. The many resulting mini-separations produced stress, but when it was all over, our lives had been streamlined to our benefit. It felt much like going on a diet and losing all the excess weight. Lighter meant less, and less was simpler, and simpler felt pretty good.
Self-control is one of the gifts God’s Spirit is willing to give us if we’ll be intentional about following his lead, and in the case of simplifying, that translates to keeping a tight rein on accumulation. After all, Jesus didn’t even own enough to fill one suitcase.
And speaking of suitcases, it sure is nice to have Nelson home again. It didn’t take any time at all for him to settle in. When you live light, unpacking is easy.
“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)