The first two outward disciplines are my favorites: simplicity and solitude. Honestly, if you give these two practices a chance, they can really free you from excess and stress.
Being a 25 year old female, I personally enjoy fashion, but I am not the one to have to stay completely up to date with trends, but if you met me 5 years ago, it would have been a lot different. There was a time in my life that if what I wore wasn't new, I would feel dissatisfied with myself. There was a time in my lief that I needed to wear something new almost everyday especially when I was going to social events and gatherings. I would spend so much of my money and time in stores finding what was in and paying a high price for them. I felt that there was a special way that stuff constructed my image and the way people viewed me. My closets and home started to fill up with stuff. I didn't really notice how much stuff I had until I got married, and my husband and I shared a closet. He brought it to my attention that I indeed had a lot of stuff, and he gave me "undesirable at the time but much needed" accountability towards my impulses to consume.
Just recently and especially after re-reading Foster's book this last few years, I realized that filling my life with stuff was a cry of desiring to find security in those items, but as we all know stuff breaks and wears over time.
Foster explains the freedom in simplicity like this: "Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. This is the inward reality of simplicity. However, if what we have we believe we have gotten, and if what we have we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we will live in anxiety" (88).
When I began to apply simplicity to my life by seeking God more in my life, making this life more about God and others and less about me, simplifying my life became so much easier. I noticed I didn't want more for myself, because me needing and desiring to consume was not at the forefront of my mind; it was no longer what drove me everyday. Loving and serving God and others took precedence over needing to fill my life with things. I encourage you to let the unnecessary go and try to live simply by loving God and others today.
Secondly, solitude is another outward discipline that takes places inward. It is more than seeking a place to be alone or just being silent in your room. It really takes the motive and drive of seeking God in those quiet and still places. Jesus was a prime example of finding places of solitude. In the busyness of ministry, He made it a point to have quiet time with His Father, alone in solitude. If Jesus, the Son of God, needed and strived for alone time, how much more are we hard-wired to live in solitude to?
The need to be alone and silent in order to hear God and be rejuvenated is more needed than ever before especially living in a world that is so chaotic and loud. The beauty of solitude is in its results: the "fruit of solitude is increased sensitivity and compassion for others. There comes a new freedom to be with people. There is new attentiveness to their needs, new responsiveness to their hurts" (108). With the way the world is, we see news feeds and people's posts on various social media forums crying out for the need for more compassion and love for this world. Honestly, it begins with us taking time for love to change our hearts. It takes time for us to think of others and not ourselves by creating time and space for the compassion to actually take root in our heart so real change can occur. How can we get filled with love and compassion if our lives our preoccupied, overflowing with our agenda and drive for self-advancement? How can this world at all advance and move forward without the catalyst of our love and compassion?
TAKE AWAY:
1. Be the change you want to see, but if first starts with getting filled back up with love and compassion.
2. Simplify your life by loving God and others first.
MEDITATION:
“19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
“34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
DAILY CHALLENGE:
1. Simplify your life by going through your home and try to get rid of things that you don't use. Give them away to loved ones or to Thrift Stores in need.
2. Find some solitude in your life by finding a quiet place to be alone. Engage with God's presence and be re-filled with love and compassion for those around you.