Simplify

Our family’s theme for 2014 is Simplify.

A Rude Awakening
We’ve realized that our lives have grown too busy. Husband and I used to be able to keep up, being free-lance musicians in addition to our day jobs as technical manager and music teacher. Our pre-child lives moved too fast as it was, and when we added our son to the mix, things got a little crazy. We started to resent the things that we once enjoyed in addition to resenting one another. We became like ships passing in the night, and the only time we were home was to be on toddler duty. It’s been rare that we are all home together for more than an hour.
We also found that this past Christmas didn’t feel like Christmas at all. Amidst the various concerts and performances, outside gigs and contracted tech requests, we didn’t have time to enjoy the season by being together. We missed the themes of advent – Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love. In a season that’s about giving, we gave all our time and energy away to outside events and engagements that we didn’t have anything to give to each other. Everything was backwards. We neglected to receive God’s gifts of time with each other and those closest to us.
Needless to say, simplifying our lives is a way of slowing down, enjoying the moments that pass far too quickly anyway without adding the chaos that we’ve been living with this past year. Yes, we’ll have to say “No” to things – (shocking for us!) even things that would contribute financially. But my guess is that we’ll find the intrinsic values and gains will be more than worthwhile.

Smelling the Roses
Since we missed the themes of Advent during the Christmas season this past year, we’ve decided to live the themes of Advent with every decision we will make for this year. Husband and I (mostly I – Husband usually goes along with my resolutions and plans and is often the one who holds me to these things when I’ve either forgotten or grown tired of them) have decided that before we commit to an outside event or job, we need to ask ourselves, “Will agreeing to this cultivate Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love?” If so, then we’ll commit. If not, then we’ll pass. The truth is, our time is precious and time with our little one won’t last forever. Time with our little family won’t last forever. There will always be another job or event or something that will demand our time. We need to learn that our time with one another is something that cannot be bought. I know it’s easier said than done. But we’re working hard to prioritize what really matters. As one church friend said, “Your yes means nothing until you say no.” We’re stopping to smell the roses this year and we’re learning the importance of slowing down to do so.

Step one: Purge our home
We decided to start in our home first. Since the home is our family’s center, we figured we should start there. Husband and I have been hauling around a ton of stuff since we’ve been married. Now that Little Dude has come along, we really can’t afford to keep all of that stuff in our two-bedroom townhome. I love our townhouse; it’s perfect for the size of our family right now. The problem was all of the stuff IN the place that was shrinking the feel of the home. Solution: Get rid of all the excess. Simplify. We started with the “Harry Potter” closet under our stairs and worked our way through the kitchen, garage, and then into Little Dude’s room. We haven’t started in our room yet, which, oddly, is now the most cluttered and least relaxing room in the house! But it’s a start. We asked ourselves if we really needed it and why. If we hadn’t used it in the past year or more, then we probably weren’t going to need it at all. Of course, there were some things that we couldn’t bear to part with, but the biggest thing is that we’ve started. We donated everything we didn’t regularly use to Goodwill with the hope that others would be blessed by those things just as we were for a time. And we trashed the things that were broken, which we intended to fix but never did. They all had that old, used dilapidated look to them anyway.

Step two: Create New Space
After getting rid of a bunch of stuff, we’ve moved on to repurposing our rooms to make them more functional and practical for our family. Our “Harry Potter” closet has now become Little Dude’s “Playroom”…ok, it’s not really a room, but to a two-year-old, it’s a wonderland. His toys fit perfectly in there and he can bring them out whenever he pleases! (Yes, we keep the door open. No, we don’t keep him in there. Yes, I’d like to think we’re good parents. Please don’t call Child Protective Services on us.)
We’ve also found that we have a little more space to create a work area for me. I’ve been “homeless” when it comes to workspace. Initially, I assumed that I would share Husband’s desk. As it turns out, while Husband is great at sharing just about everything else under the sun, his desk is not included in that category. Being homeless for a workspace meant that every space became something of a workspace – the family mail center, the kitchen counter, the dining table, my dresser, the floor.
While creating new space within our home is a great thing, creating space within our family’s schedule is even more important. Husband and I do Family Calendar at the beginning of every month then we review the upcoming week’s activities every weekend. We plan on being more intentional about carving out unplugged time to play board games together once a week. I’ll let you know how we do! ☺

Baby Steps
As we discover more, I’ll write more. For now, we’re going to take it a day at a time. Together. Making time and space for one another to smell the roses, to hear the gentle Whisper of God’s voice every day with everything that we do. By making space and time for God to move and speak to us this year, I truly believe that we’re going to teach our child how to listen and make space for God and how to prioritize His Kingdom things over our busy schedules and earthly comforts. Hopefully, we’ll make it a habit for our family and he will make it a habit for himself later on.

More later!
-D