Simple Bounty

 

Bounty is good things that are given or provided freely and in large amounts, according to Merriam-Webster. When I think of the word bounty, I think of bountiful, a word often heard around Thanksgiving. Sometimes I think we forget what a bountiful amount of possessions we have. And what an abundance of blessings.

I don’t want to go all Green Acres or anything, but I really have felt the need for simplicity lately. Kim John Payne , author of Simplicity Parenting, describes the four pillars of excess as having too much stuff, too many choices, too much information and too much speed.

I experience at least three of the four pillars of excess on a weekly basis. Just one trip to Target puts me face-to-face with too much stuff and too many choices.

I can’t seem to totally transform my closet into a model of a capsule wardrobe, so I still battle with too many choices there, also. I love the idea of narrowing down my apparel to a selection of 37 fabulous pieces. But there are problems. Like, when you plan to wear the white top but your only clean undergarment is dark blue. Then there are all your sleeveless dresses that require a little sweater – for protection when the indoors feels like winter and to hide your flapping upper arms. I know it’s doable, it just takes time to get simplified.

Too much information is a sneaky excess. It assaults me every time I open my laptop. Ten Ways to….How to Do Whatever in Six Easy Steps… The Best…Wait Until You See What They Look Like Now… If I google a word, I will get a definition, the book, the movie, and the urban slang option.

One pillar of excess that I don’t really have to deal with is speed, except when I’m running really late. I do not jog. I love my slow cooker. I slowly savor my peanut M & Ms.

What I think I’m learning is that to really appreciate the bounty of blessings, I need to sort through the abundance of excesses in my life. The busyness of life can be like blinders, keeping us from seeing what is really around us. It may sound like a paradox, but paring down can actually increase the bounty of your life.

What They Do: Thoughts from A Man Called Ove

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“Men are what they are because of what they do. Not because of what they say,” said Ove.
From A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

I had to think on this for a while. First off, this applies to women, also.

I think it’s true when it comes to campaign promises. We can all say we’re going to do something. It’s whether we do it or not that makes all the difference. Grand speeches, promises, gestures, are all in vain if they are not followed through to fruition.

On the other hand, especially in this election season, “what they say” is quite the indicator of what a man/woman is. Both of our candidates are foul-mouthed individuals.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. Matthew 15:18

These things, according to John Gill, include “…idle words, foolish talking, filthy jesting, unsavory communication, and every word that is rotten and corrupt, or which is done in the life and conversation;” and he continues, “the heart is the corrupt fountain from whence all moral defilement flows; and sinful words and actions are the impure streams, which spring from thence, and increase the moral pollution of human nature.”

Just something to think about…

Madness, Madness I say!

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So, we’re watching the news last night and they are doing a report on the people camping outside Best Buy for the Black Friday sales. They zone in on these two guys who have been there since the Saturday before. They have enough camping equipment for a trip to the boonies. These aren’t young kids – these are men in their 40s or more. It boggled my mind thinking about it. One, how is it they don’t have to work? Two, what could possibly be so enticing? What latest gadget/TV/whatever would be worth sitting outside a store for six days? I would be so embarrassed for the world to know that I was that, well, worldly.

Then, today I see an article in the newspaper on these same guys. I find out there is a whole GROUP devoted to this – since 2006! They have a facebook page and everything. They say they organized to “add some fun and take some of the madness out of the long wait.”

Take some of the madness out?? I’d say they took the madness with them into their little tents.  You can watch a video below of a guy who shows you all the stuff he packs for this occasion. It’s more than I have for my hurricane preparation box!

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Ecc. 2:17

I don’t want to feel like this – hating life. But, I must admit, this is distressing and depressing.

My prayer is that the Lord would help me not to feel so “holier than thou” but to be aware – but for the grace of God, that could be me in that little tent.

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