A Journey in Simplicity: Fasting for Simplification and To Be Re-Sensitized

Even though it hurts, for me to be useful and purposeful in life I need to shed pieces  that hold me back and tether my desires, dreams and goals to anything other than Christ and what He has called me to. I challenge you to sit down and make a list right now, things you know hold you back, waste your time and/or are not glorifying to God.

There are some questions I am answering for myself (from The Rewards of Simplicity) that you may want to consider too:

Here is a list to help us start evaluating our time and energy:

• List your top priorities. What is most important to you? What (or Whom) do you value most?
• List your commitments. Consider everything, including work, church, household, family, children's extracurricular activities, hobbies, freelance work, even leisure time. Which of these commitments do you value most? Which of these fit into the top priorities you have already listed?
• Account for your time. How do you spend your waking hours? From the time you get up until the time you go to sleep, what are you doing with your time? Are you using any of your time for your top priorities? (Questions from p. 65)

Life is different for us all, and those of us with small kids know that while we would love life to flow efficiently so as to complete our tasks and enjoy life, it doesn't seem to work that way. Yet there are always things we can work on, no matter what stage of life you are in there are things that have crept in that you could do without.

Grab your list of priorities, commitments and time. Looking at each item on your list consider this:

• Does it add meaning/value to my life?
• How important is this to me?
• Does this conflict with or enhance my priorities?
• Cold I eliminate this from my life? (Questions from p.66)

Once you answer those questions honestly (which is a huge battle in itself) it is time to take action, you can do that in different ways. You could choose to eliminate  one item off your list for a few days or a week, and then reevaluate. You should be able to determine quicky if it should be a permanent carving out or a toning down of that item.

Make sure you are doing this with the right motivation, " it is important to keep in mind the motivation for evaluating our time commitments and priorities-love. When we approach this evaluation with the three keys of simplification-faith, focus and function-we can be confident that the Holy Spirit will be controling the pencil".(The Rewards of Simplicity, p. 67)

After answering these questions, you may also decide to try a season of media fast, you have some different options to try:

1. Cold turkey, see the problem and eliminate it all the way for a week. Keep up on email and/or use internet for work and essential research only.
2. If that seems intense, try one day without electronic media of any kind. Again email and necessary research is okay for work.
3. Take your pick of one of your problem media sources, one at a time eliminate it for a day or two or a week. Start with a firm goal in mind though.

Is that a lot to think about or what?! I need to answer these questions myself tonight and be honest with where I am at If you would like to take this walk with me you are welcome to follow along in comments, sending me an email if you are a more private sort of person, or just doing it without a word. Pray about what steps you should take to remove the clutter from your life.

Tomorrow (Monday) I am going to share with you what you should be doing during your media fast, it is interesting I think how a fast can leave you more nourished than when you have an array of foods (in our case media foods) to sample. This will be a great journey, so pray, make your lists, and check in tomorrow!

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If you are just tuning in now and are interested in joining us be sure and check out my first post about this voyage:
A Journey in Simplicity: Starting Out