This morning I woke up and realized I didn’t have much cereal left for a full bowl. So I opted to make toast and slathered peanut butter on it. Sitting back in my chair, I realized I missed this simple meal because I hadn’t made toast in a long, long time. I had grown up on making toast ever since I was a kid. Eating this meal took me back a few years when life seemed much simpler.
And it WAS simpler. I didn’t have a mortgage, a house and a car to maintain, a job, and what feels like a few other zillion things to juggle. It seems every adult you talk to invariably looks back to their childhood wistfully because despite its problems, our childhood wasn’t that complicated. Life wasn’t as burdensome. There weren’t as many things to juggle. Sure, there was homework and chores, but afterwards you could usually go outside and bike around the neighborhood or spend two hours on a midsummer’s night catching fireflies.
Each one of life’s stages is remarkable and rewarding to get to, but they all come with jobs and duties and responsibilities, all with their own time commitments, that we didn’t have before. I think in our eagerness to grow up and move on to the next stage of life (driving, dating, job, marriage, homeownership, kids, etc.) we tend to forget to take the time to streamline, slow down and de-clutter our lives.
After all, sometimes it’s much easier and more enjoyable to have toast than an omelet with all the fixins, especially if it gives you more time to go outside and run around the neighborhood catching fireflies!
I love Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 as translated in The Message:
Seize life! Eat bread with gusto,
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes – God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don’t skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love
Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange
For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!
This is your last and only chance at it,
For there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think
In the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed.
– Matt
EcclesiastesenjoylifesimpleThe Message
The Simple Life is a Life Relished
August 13, 2009
Calvary
Comments Off on The Simple Life is a Life Relished
Matt
This morning I woke up and realized I didn’t have much cereal left for a full bowl. So I opted to make toast and slathered peanut butter on it. Sitting back in my chair, I realized I missed this simple meal because I hadn’t made toast in a long, long time. I had grown up on making toast ever since I was a kid. Eating this meal took me back a few years when life seemed much simpler.
And it WAS simpler. I didn’t have a mortgage, a house and a car to maintain, a job, and what feels like a few other zillion things to juggle. It seems every adult you talk to invariably looks back to their childhood wistfully because despite its problems, our childhood wasn’t that complicated. Life wasn’t as burdensome. There weren’t as many things to juggle. Sure, there was homework and chores, but afterwards you could usually go outside and bike around the neighborhood or spend two hours on a midsummer’s night catching fireflies.
Each one of life’s stages is remarkable and rewarding to get to, but they all come with jobs and duties and responsibilities, all with their own time commitments, that we didn’t have before. I think in our eagerness to grow up and move on to the next stage of life (driving, dating, job, marriage, homeownership, kids, etc.) we tend to forget to take the time to streamline, slow down and de-clutter our lives.
After all, sometimes it’s much easier and more enjoyable to have toast than an omelet with all the fixins, especially if it gives you more time to go outside and run around the neighborhood catching fireflies!
I love Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 as translated in The Message:
Seize life! Eat bread with gusto,
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes – God takes pleasure in your pleasure!
Dress festively every morning.
Don’t skimp on colors and scarves.
Relish life with the spouse you love
Each and every day of your precarious life.
Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange
For the hard work of staying alive.
Make the most of each one!
Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!
This is your last and only chance at it,
For there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think
In the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed.
– Matt
Share this:
EcclesiastesenjoylifesimpleThe Message