Keepin' It Simple In 2013

Uh, oh, here I go, wading through a lot of stuff you know, 

Juggling it all while I’m balancing on a wire; 

Slow down, I have found, seems that every time I turn around, 

Got one foot in the muck and another foot in the mire;

Well, I’m scaling down, pulling back

Got to try to simplify ~ Wes King

A few weeks ago, a rash of One Word buttons began popping up all over my Facebook page and on my Blogger Reading List.

For those of you who haven’t the foggiest notion what in the world I’m talking about, the One Word concept is to focus on a particular God inspired word for the whole year, rather than wrestle with a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions you just KNOW will be broken by the third week of January (I’m being kind here. Usually, I’ve bombed out on most by January 2).

Melanie, over at Only A Breath, designs these marvelous One Word 2013 buttons to display on your blog, your Facebook page, your personal website or wherever. I first became aware of this last year when my friend Dawn Paoletta, over at Beneath The Surface:Breath of Faith, had one on her blog.  So, I decided to give it a shot this year.

Those of you who don't really know me, here's a truth: I’ve created a career out of making things in my own life…and the lives of others…more complicated than they need to be. What could be said in 25 words or less, I will say/write in 250 words or more. I fear blank calendars and Day Planners: empty blocks or pages just SCREAM for me to fill them with something. Or many somethings. And honestly? I’ve tried to accomplish so many things at once, I could be a professional juggler.

While I am far from reaching hoarder status, I do have a lot of stuff in my house. Too much stuff. Unnecessary stuff.

I feel as if I have….no, I KNOW I have so much clutter in my life – literally and figuratively – and the clutter and the complication have become a constant distraction from what is most important, or SHOULD be important to me:

• Jesus
• My family
• My health

I can no longer continue on this cluttered, twisted, rock strewn maze, because frankly:

It’s burdensome

It’s exhausting

It’s stressful

It’s ugly

So yes....Simplify is my One Word for 2013. 

Jumping onto the dictionary bandwagon, here are some definitions that resonate with me personally: to reduce to basic essentials; to make more simple and less complex; to eliminate those things that we don’t need.

Simplify.

It came as a gentle, yet persistent, God-breathed whisper in my ear, that turned into a stirring in my soul.

Simplify!

When Jesus traveled, to say He traveled extremely light is an understatement because as far as I know, Jesus didn’t have much of anything TO TAKE. He didn't even own a house. Jesus did and said only what was necessary. So He is Whom I look to as my example of simplicity. All through the gospels, Jesus found Himself in the middle of ridiculously large groups people. Yet, He focused on and tended to each matter, each need, each precious person at hand. Jesus kept it simple.

Simplify. I don’t know what this is going to look like for me this year. I doubt it will be pretty, swift or easy. Sincere and deep life change never is. And I sure don’t know how God is going to work this out in my life for 2013.

But that’s not my job to figure it out. That’s a job I’ll gladly pull from the juggling sphere and hand over to Him.

Just tryin’ to simplify.