Good morning…
“You and Richard Rohr are on the same page!” an old friend wrote yesterday after reading our post, My Mind Is Reeling. “I am with you … pondering how to simplify,” she admitted, sharing the wise blog below. “I know listening to God more is part of the answer. Xo.”
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June 16: Simplicity Is about Freedom by Richard Rohr (Today Rohr shares the wisdom of Sister José Hobday (1929–2009), who was a modern Franciscan whose life exemplified her faith commitment to activism and contemplation.)
Simple living is not about elegant frugality. It is not really about deprivation of whatever is useful and helpful for our life. It is not about harsh rules and stringent regulations. To live simply, one has to consider all of these and they may be included to some degree, but simple living is about freedom. It’s about a freedom to choose space rather than clutter, to choose open and generous living rather than a secure and sheltered way.
Freedom is about choices: Freedom to choose less rather than more. It’s about choosing time for people and ideas and self-growth rather than for maintenance and guarding and possessing and cleaning. Simple living is about moving through life rather lightly, delighting in the plain and the subtle. It is about poetry and dance, song and art, music and grace. It is about optimism and humor, gratitude and appreciation. It is about embracing life with wide-open arms. It’s about living and giving with no strings attached. . . .
Simple living is as close as the land on which we stand. It is as far-reaching as the universe that makes us gasp. Simple living is a relaxed grasp on money, things, and even friends. Simplicity cherishes ideas and relationships. They are treasured more because simplicity doesn’t cling nor try to possess things or people or relationships. Simplicity frees us within, but it frees others, too. . . . Simple living is a statement of presence. The real me. This simplicity makes us welcome among the wealthy and the poor alike. . . .
We will not be happy living selfishly in a small world. We must live in awareness and in association with the whole real world. Our universe. Our cosmos. Our environment. Our earth. Our air. Our water supply. Our country. Our neighbor. Our car. Our homes. All are part of simple living.
– José Hobday, Simple Living: The Path to Joy and Freedom (New York: Continuum, 2006), 1–2, 10.
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“I love this,” I wrote back. “It’s encouragement I so need to hear as I dig out from the clutter and the chaos of too much of everything. You and I, Rohr and Jose’ are whittling down to God’s simple gifts in this very moment. We can choose gratitude for life’s treasures in the next moment too. What a way to live, spaciously free! In God’s slow time and in love’s gentle way, we are digging down into the whole real world of our true shared selves ☮️.”
“O you naive or inexperienced [who are easily misled],
understand prudence
and seek astute common sense;
And, O you [closed-minded, self-confident] fools,
understand wisdom
[seek the insight and self-discipline that leads to godly living].”
– Proverbs 8:5, AMP
Digging beneath life’s clutter and chaos, savor the words that touch you right now as we choose the simplicity of God’s spacious freedom.
…Sue…
