The simple life???

A couple of weeks ago, our Pastor asked G and I if we would be willing to share with the congregation during a Lenten service our story of how we are striving to simplify our lives.  We agreed to do this and tonight was the night.  Initially we thought we would just be sharing a quick snippit for his sermon but it turns out, we were giving the message ~ choosing the bible passage and all.

We chose the following passage from 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Most people who know us would probably say our lives are anything but simple given our somewhat ridiculous commutes for our professional lives, and we are likely to agree if that is how you define a "simple life."  Yet, in preparing for tonight's message, we realized that our view of a simple life is more of reprioritizing what is the focus of our lives.

Back in 2007, I heard the song "Two Sets of Jones" by Big Tent Revival and it struck a chord in me.

For those who are unfamiliar with the song and choose not to play the video, it is about two young married couples, one is focused on jobs and wealth, the other is focused on Christ.  I remember thinking and sharing with G that we were the "wrong" set of Jones.  We knew we had to make some changes in our lives, which led to our return to Washington and our decision to formally "invite" Christ into our marriage and our family.

Have we achieved the simple life?  No.  But we have found a sense of peace that was not previously there and we know it is a continuous journey.  We feel we have our priorities straight now and rather than focusing on things we are focused on our faith and our family.  We have far less moments of thinking "we'll be happy when fill in the blank" and are finding the joy of each day.

It's true that in simplifying one aspect of our lives (being closer to our families), we completely complicated our professional lives -- yet, somehow, it doesn't seem quite so much a chore or stress factor because we know what is important . . .

It was such a beautiful afternoon that Alli and I decided to play with sidewalk chalk while Eli napped.  Of all the things she could think of to draw, she wanted us to draw our family!