'Tis a gift to be simple.....

or so says the lyrics to that old shaker hymn that is so popular here in my neck of the woods. I have to say I agree with that, simplicity is a beautiful thing, I guess it just depends on your definition of simplicity.

Me, I like things like vanilla ice cream, a great cup of strong black coffee, people who are direct and plainspoken, wildflowers in a mason jar, no blinds on the windows ( yeah, we do have a Roman shade on the bathroom and I do live out in the country off of the main road a ways....)

I prefer white cotton sheets dried on a clothesline, veggies from my garden out back, paper not plastic, blowing bubbles with my kiddos, going barefoot and peanut butter on whole wheat....but who am I kidding, really?

I also like a great restaurant in an interesting city, the complexities of a meal well cooked ( d'you think I have food issues? probably so....) scented candles, a sweet pair of shoes ( yet another problem) a great haircut and color, a trip to the beach....I like simplicity when its added to my complex life, maybe I wouldn't embrace it so much if it were my only option.

I've recently read Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution in conjunction with Lisa Samson's Quaker Summer, and I gotta tell ya, I'm rethinking my position on the way life is lived here on the river. We are a semi-green, quasi-environmentally friendly homeschooling family with a firm faith in Jesus.....but honestly, the picture of the gospels painted in these two books has set this girl on her ear.

Compared to the American norm, we live pretty simply---well within our means, no debt other than the mortgage, which I'm hacking away at , thank you, cook from scratch, raise the veggies, don't buy the latest gadgets, allow the library to substitute for retail therapy kinda family. But I'm beginning to evaluate what we could do differently that might actually impact the world through a ministry of presence. Since we don't live in an inner-city, our ministry of presence might look a lot different than a homeless shelter on the meanstreets. However rural appalachia has her own version of meanstreets, and I mean to find out what changing that might encompass.

Who knew a life of simplicity could be so complex?