Simple life

 Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:6

Gift is the word spoken over creation by the very breath of God. Life is given and sustained as a precious gift given by the Father, from whom and for whom all things exist. We are invited to receive this gift from God, and then through our words and deeds offer it back to God in heartfelt devotion, praise, worship, service and righteous living (doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord).

Every breath that we take is an invitation to live our lives in full alignment with the rhythms, steps, and path of the life of God. We have a daily choice to live on accord with the Lord and respect and cherish this gift, or to exploit it and distort its intended use. This my beloved friends is the reality of freedom. We are free to receive this gift and speak the same words of hope and peace into the world, or we can reject the gift and speak our own words into being as life and death is in the power of our tongue and choices.

The Lord speaks life, yet we often speak death. He speaks freedom, and we instead choose bondage. He speaks simplicity, and we live lives of excess. He calls us to generosity, and we instead speak scarcity or greed.

Today, we are invited to look at the small and often unnoticed parts of our life and reflect on the ways they honor the gift of life, or the ways they reject it through distorted habits of living, buying, consuming, and relating to others.

One of the most helpful ways to cultivate a lifestyle of gift-receiving and gift-giving is to intentionally choose a life of simplicity. We spend far too much time consumed by our consumption. The way we spend our time, money, and resources can either set us free or deepen our bondage. One simply cannot be overrun by our own passions and pursuits and retain the margin to care for those we love and are meant to serve. Let's simplify our relationship to our stuff, not as an end in and of itself, but so we can be free to love our neighbor and share the gift of life that we have been given by the Lord to enjoy and live to the full.