(Girls dancing on the beach as the sun rose...3 years have passed, but they still greet each day with singing and often dancing!)
I mean to lead a simple life, to choose a simple shell I can carry easily- like a hermit crab. But I do not. I find that my frame of life does not foster simplicity.
I find that sometimes I take on more than I can carry easily...it is not hard to do in today's world, is it? There are so many good, worthwhile things to do.
When I notice myself (and my family) struggling under the weight of my "shell" it is time to do some unloading of excess baggage and simplify life a little.
As the hermit crab seeks out a new shell when his no longer fits, I may have to remove things and rearrange my life so that it almost seems that I have a "new shell", too. A life that fits my frame (and my family's)...a frame that can only handle so much, since I am (we are), after all... "just dust"! For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:14
It takes time...this soul searching and prayer that I must do in order to adjust my life to align with His Will. I may find it needful to retreat into my own shell for a little while...and just sit at His feet and listen. But, when I pray and wait, seek His counsel and His path for me...my life, my shell, becomes easy to carry...for His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:30).
Then, there will be time for the important things...like greeting the sunrise with a dance on the beach.
I always come back to these words:
But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann
(4 year-old Cana, offering Mommy a shell...She still collects shells for me, even though she's 7 now!)
Lord, give me ears to hear and eyes to see You today...in the little things, like a sunrise dance on the beach, or the gift of a shell from the hands of my child. As I spend time with You in prayer...sitting at Your feet; show me what is necessary this day. Help me create a shell that fits...for their sake as much as mine.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!