Simplify

Here we are going on two weeks into the new year. Feel different? Probably not. 😉

Already broken a goal or resolution? Probably.

Regardless, I do love how the new year makes me feel. It’s like a deep cleaning for my soul and spirit, a time to be reflective and hopeful. I have set goals for myself personally, for my marriage, for my business, and as a mom. I have set a word for me that I hope to live into personally this year, as well as a word for our marriage like we always choose for us every year.

But, at the core of it all, it seems I have one hope for my 2018: Simplify. 

Everything I have written down and what I am aspiring to make happen this year starts with simplicity. It starts with pitching and tossing, and welcoming in more silence, more quiet, more of less. Have you ever tried to sit in silence and after about 30 seconds feel awkward? Yeah, me too. I want to change that. Funnily enough, I feel like so many people are saying the same thing for their year. I have read it over and over in my feeds and heard friends say, “I want to live more simply.”

Perhaps it is because after a year of so much tragedy and rockiness in our world, we finally are starting to understand collectively what actually matters and what doesn’t. The fluff is unnecessary. Or, maybe you are sick of devoting your every waking hour to work and not enough to people and relationships, and loneliness was the result for 2017 because of it. Or, maybe your state of being can be defined by “cluttered”, and you’re over it. Cluttered by toxic friends, negative memories, bad habits. Whatever your reason might be, it’ll be different for us all, simplifying life seems to be the goal for so many of us.

In my efforts of simplifying, I aim to drop the phone and computer to replace it with more face to face. I want to read more. I want to sit in silence more. I want to be okay with silence. I want to soak in every inch of my growing son, and memorize every detail. I want less distractions, and more intentionality. I want more scripture, and less of the world’s opinions. I want to get rid of the negative, and full of positive influence and relationships. I want to forgive quicker, and hold onto hurt shorter.

I have read the scripture over and over, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) For the longest time, I thought this meant that if I say I am a Christian, I will get what I want in life. Truth is, though, that’s not what this is saying at all. Believe me, brokenness and hurt still come after faith. What changes is hope accompanied with faith within the brokenness. But see, when we truly seek first the kingdom of God, our desires become his. That’s what this is getting at. And, it is then when we can see our desires come to life, because they’re really his for us. When we seek the kingdom of God first, above all else, when we wake up and give him our first thoughts, we spend time in the word daily, when we devote our first fruits, we grow to want more of God’s heart and less of our own wants. It comes naturally by putting him first.

But in order to hear God’s heart and know it, I have to silence my mind and simplify. Choosing less for immeasurably more.

I hope your new year has started off with every dream and desire in your heart burning holes deep within you with great passion and persistent pursuit. But, more importantly, I pray you simplify enough to hear from God what it is that will truly make this year the best year. Your best life is waiting in the silence, the simplicity. Be still, know God, know his heart, know his desires for you.

Love you sweet friends! And, though 9 days late, happy new year.

xoxo- Han