Simplify

Happy New Year, guys! While I was blog-hopping this morning, I found something interesting that I’d like to try, here. From what I gather, it’s pretty much called the “One Word Challenge.” The challenge basically asks you to pick a word that describes what you want to focus on this year. When I read it, the word that immediately came to mind for me was:

Sometimes I feel like there’s too much going on in my life. School, church, work, club responsibilities, social demands, my struggling writing life, etc. All those things don’t even include all the inner conflicts that come with the transition from “teenager” to “young adult.” It’s like everything just gets all piled up and, unfortunately, I tend to get tangled up in it all. So tangled up that I feel like can’t move, metaphorically speaking.

Of course, I’ve noticed over the years that for every issue in my life, there generally tends to develop an appropriate physical manifestation –and that physical manifestation is usually what gets my attention.

On the 20th, I will begin classes at a small Christian college where I will be living on campus. If any of you have ever seen a dorm room, I’m sure you know that they typically aren’t all that spacious to begin with. Furthermore, if you have a roommate (which I will), you have to share the limited space with another human. A total stranger. *Don’t go there, Ashley. Not today.*

Anyway… The closer I get to the day I’m supposed to move in, the more conflicted I get about what I need to take with me. I can’t take too much, but I do need to take enough stuff to occupy myself in my free time (aka books). My original plan was to stack up all the books I plan to take, but the stack quickly grew too large to be contained within the small bookshelves in the dorm. Plus, I haven’t even bought my textbooks. There’s no way I’d ever be able to read all those books. The stack was going to have to be reduced. That’s when it hit me:

I need to take some time to simplify –and not just my literature collection.

I’m going to this college in hopes of seeking God for a semester without having so many distractions to deal with. I want take a few months to learn about my King and draw near to Him. I want to hear HIS voice rather than all the others swirling around me. I want my life to become totally focused on my Lord. I want my life to be simplified into one word:

Consecrated

According to Webster, “consecrated” means “dedicated to a sacred purpose.” That’s what I want for my life and I believe that, for me, that process needs to begin with simplification.

So… As a physical example of the spiritual journey I plan to embark on this year, I’ve managed to reduce my book selection significantly. While these won’t be the ONLY ones I take (there are a few more I’d like to have around), these are the ones I absolutely require. If things get cluttered, all others will have to go.

 


Yes. Two of them are notebooks. Two of them are also Bibles.

It’s time to simplify.

Do you need to simplify some things this year?

If you had to pick one word to focus on this year, what word would you choose?