We live complicated lives in a complicated world keeping us distracted from hearing God’s voice. Leanstead’s overall goal here is learning and sharing how to lean up our lives so that we can focus on what is most important; in order to do that, we’ve GOT to simplify things. 

This process happens by first questioning everything; our worship, our work, our lifestyle, our health, our education, our relationships, our diet, our spending…you know, EVERYTHING. It may seem daunting, but here’s the thing; it’s not a destination.

It’s a journey and the first step is getting quiet and hearing God’s voice. Taking the time to slow our roll, helps us to see areas of our lives that have become far too complicated and keep us distracted from what we claim are our priorities. Tackling everything at once is not recommended. There’s a phrase used in the Middle East that I love: ‘schway, schway’. It means ‘little by little’.

For our family, this slow roll has led us to question how we educated our children, how we use modern medicine, how we earn a living, how we spend our money, how we eat… But not all at once. One thing at a time.

You see where I’m going here? Over the past few generations, we have benefited greatly (or at least that’s what advertisers want us to think) from endless conveniences and loads of technology. Sure, grocery stores, fast food and smart phones have completely changed our lives…but has it really been for the better? 

The problem

Today’s families are over scheduled, over worked, overcommitted and under valued, undernourished, unconnected and unfulfilled. Sad, right?

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be this way.

We have a choice.

We can follow along with what society expects or we CAN say, “No, I don’t think so, Tim.” (my apologies if you are not familiar with “Home Improvement” and ‘Tim, the Tool Man, Taylor’).

The Solution

We can chose to live differently, simply. It may not be as easy as we think though. Returning to the simpler ways of generations before us does require some learning on our part. Healthier meals are made from scratch, not a box or the freezer section. However, from scratch cooking, which used to be taught in public school along with shop class, is a thing of the past. Most of our society is unable to bake biscuits, balance a checkbook or change the oil in the car.

They definitely don’t know how to raise a chicken, grow a tomato or read a book and think critically about it.

These are skills that we often find ourselves Googling and if our great grandparents could see us, would definitely be shaking their heads. Can you imagine? But we have a chance to change that.

We can start today to rediscover those skills we dismissed in our grandparents. Doing so just might change our lives for the better. I think they were much smarter than we ever imagined!

So, anybody have a pipe wrench? I’ve gotta leak that needs fixing.

Blessings,

Hope