Five Ways to UNcomplicate Life for a Simpler New Year

At the top of each year, it is no surprise that I cannot as easily traverse the parking lot of the local strip mall as easily as I had in…oh, say…September. It is to be expected. After all, just days ago didn’t hundreds…thousands…even perhaps millions promise themselves to get into better shape, eat better, and work out more often? So, with a gym situated at the center of the u-shaped plaza, my chances of finding a parking space to visit St. Louis Bread Company on one end or Walgreens on the other are substantially decreased.

I don’t begrudge their efforts. In fact, I applaud them…eventually I will join them. I have to finish this scone first. It’s alright, though, I had to walk a half a mile to and from just to get it. That’s a push...right?

In any event, it got me thinking. On New Year’s Eve, I firmly resolved NOT to resolve anything. Instead, I made a list of things I hoped to achieve. Obviously avoiding scones did not make the cut, but what did surprised me. In some form or another all my hopes circled around in one way or another to simplifying my life.

In the first two verses of Psalm 131, none other than David himself illustrates the model of simplicity when he states “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.”

Though destined for greatness, had God’s will been for David to remain in his current position, he would have gladly done -- so great was his love for God. If David, one of the true Biblical luminaries could actually aspire to a simple life, should not we follow suit?

Below is a list of five ways to uncomplicated our lives.

1) Unplug
We are nowhere nearly as important as we think we are. Want proof? Disconnect for the night. Don’t panic, it’s just for a night. Turn off the phone, put down the tablet, log out of your e-mail, and don’t think twice about any of them. I can almost guarantee that come morning, the sun will have risen (somewhere) and the world will have continued spinning. Rediscover your spouse, your kids, or even your love of board games.

2) Unsubscribe
Speaking of e-mail and other clutter, unsubscribe from whatever lists fill up your inbox. You know the ones that are clutter – they’re the ones you never open them and delete as soon as you recognize the point of origin. Most of the time we are simply too lazy to follow through the instructions to permanently rid ourselves of them. Life, too, is full of things from which you can unsubscribe – bad jobs, bad relationships, or bad habits just to name a few. Just follow whatever internal links you need to in order to leave them behind.

3) Unwind
Never underestimate the power of relaxation. Sometimes your best work will happen during or after a momentary pause in the action. Letting the field lay fallow as it were is a great way to rejuvenate the process at hand. The same goes for our day to day existence. We let too much wind us up in the first place. After all, haven’t we been assured by Christ that God takes care of even the birds and that we are infinitely more valuable to Him than they?

4) Unwrap
Many times we fail to remember that there is more than meets the eye. We grow inpatient at the check-out. We get angry being cut off in traffic. We may grow irritated at having to repeat ourselves to a friend or co-worker. These, though, are knee-jerk reactions. What if we were to respond as we are called to do so…in patience, in love, or in understanding? We might discover that the lady ahead of us is elderly or inform and cannot move as quickly as she used to…or, in all likelihood, as quickly as she’d like. Perhaps the inconsiderate driver has a medical emergency or is trying desperately to get home to his spouse or child. Maybe the friend or co-worker is in the beginning stages of hearing loss…and probably embarrassed about having to ask you to repeat yourself. Then again, maybe they are just being jerks, but that is beyond our control. How we respond to them is not.

5) Unpack
The easiest way to simplify our lives is to just trust in God. All His wishes for us are shared in His Holy Word. His love for us, his hopes for us, even the history of His interactions with us are documented within. Most importantly, His promise of salvation in the form of Jesus Christ acts as the guiding principal and through-line of the entire Bible. Everything…all of it…it’s all there. All we need to do is take the time to read and then unpack it. Book by book. Chapter by chapter. Verses by verse. The Bible is truly God’s Valentine to us.

Any of the above will have an impact on your life. Together, they can all have an impact on the lives of those around you.