Living Simply?

I realized recently that simplicity is not about the number of cars we own, the food we eat, the DIY tricks I use, or the clothes we wear. Rather, it's making sure I'm doing what the Lord calls me to and nothing more besides. If I fill my time and our home with projects and objects that distract me from His calling in my life, then I'm no longer living a simple life, even if those projects and objects are counter culturally "homespun". It's a constant struggle. On one side I need to ask myself repeatedly whether this or that is helping me focus on God (simplicity) or distracting me (clutter). Sometimes the answer is to make it myself. Sometimes the answer is to do without. Sometimes the answer is to buy it and use it often even if it would not fit into someone else's definition of simplicity.

The flip side is never assuming that others are not living out godly simplicity when they own items outside of my calling to simplicity. For example, we've chosen not to own a tv, and each time we revisit the issue it's confirmed that we've made the right decision. Yet someone else may go through the same Christ-focused decision making process and come to the opposite conclusion. That person is living simply and so am I (trying to), even though that means *very* different things for each of us.