Duplicate June 23, 2008

photo credit:homardbleu/flickr.com

I desire to live a simple life.  This, I realize, is a vague statement.  But, that’s exactly it… I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to live simply.  I believe that it’s about being content with what I have, taking only what I need and being generous with myself and what I have to give.

 I’ve been meditating on this conversation:

A man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

 ”Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

 ”Which ones?” the man inquired.

   Jesus replied, ” Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 ”All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

-Matthew 19:16-22

and, also, these words from John the Baptist:

“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” -Luke 3:11

I think, first of all, what God desires is our hearts. What’s important is our love for other people and our willingness and desire to give.  The young rich man he was talking to wasn’t willing and I think that was the biggest issue.  I don’t know that this passage means that we must go and sell all of our possessions.  I think it means we must be generous and willing to give all we have with a happy heart.  That said, I like the seemingly practical instruction from John the Baptist.  It’s been on my mind.  As I go through my house throughout the day, I’ve been asking myself questions like:

“Why do I have 5 spatulas in the kitchen when I only ever use 2 at a time?” (same with pot-holders, strainers, other utensils, etc)

“Do I need 6 pairs of jeans (when I only wear 3)?”

“Why am I keeping this (thing that someone gave me that I don’t really love)?”

“How many pairs of pajamas do I really wear or really need?”

“When was the last time I used this?”

I think it’s important to be intentional about giving.  In our culture, it’s SO EASY to HOARD.  We are bombarded by messages everywhere that tell us that we NEED more STUFF and that our current state of being is not good enough.  We need to have things to make us happy, to give us status, to make life easier, to save us time (oh, TIME, why is it that we think we never have enough of you?).  In our culture it is so very common to live with so much extra stuff and extra space and to live with a continual desire for more. But, I want to duplicate things in my life that are not material.  It takes some reflection to realize what we really need and what is just extra, just duplicates.  Just because I don’t have a whole lot of excess cash flow doesn’t mean I don’t have excess.  

Now, I’m not saying that we necessarily ought to strip down our possessions to the absolute bare minimum (one pair of pants, one shirt, one pot, one fork, etc.).  I do think it’s valuable to realize that I could live that way and still be content, or could I?  This whole subject demands a lot of soul searching.  Which is interesting because it’s just stuff.  But what we look like, what our homes look like and what we do or don’t buy and give away says a lot about who we are and what our priorities are, I think.  I say this not to judge others, but to judge myself (in a good way ). 

We as a people are drowning under our consumption.  We clutter up our houses and our souls with it.  The environment is suffering under its weight.  The people across the globe paid awfully low wages to work long hours in poor conditions are suffering under its weight.  I was listening to the following song the other day as I was thinking about these things:

“We’re living the American dream.  The people highest up have got the lowest self esteem.  The prettiest people do the ugliest things for the road to riches and diamond rings…  We buy a lot of clothes, but we don’t really need ‘em – things we buy to cover up what’s inside.  Because they made us hate ourselves and love their wealth.” – Kanye West

His words ring true to me on large and small scales. (I know, who would have thought I would have quoted Kanye West in the middle of this discussion?  But I liked it)  Am I willing to change my way of life and not follow this crazy way of living called the American dream?  How much of what I desire, hold onto and purchase is born out of a desire to heal my broken self-esteem?  And at what cost?  Stuff won’t ever fix my distorted self-image, but getting my vision off of myself and onto the needs of others might.

It’s difficult and yet so simple.  Go to goodwill next time you need something.  Check freecycle.  Give away that thing that has been sitting in your closet for a year.  Have two?  Give one.

Get rid of your duplicate possessions and duplicate generosity instead.