hard to swallow

1 John 3:17 asks, “If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need, but has no pity on them, how can God's love be in him?”

What a hard verse to swallow.

It really hits me right between the eyes, as if it were meant for me. Every time I read this verse, I think of my multiple pairs of shoes, of my closet full of clothes, the food just sitting in my freezer, of my monthly extra spending money, etc.

Granted there are some things you can't live without, but when it comes to all the extra stuff lying around, I have plenty of it that I don't even use.

I wrote a blog entry a while back about asking God's spirit to guide me when confronted with homelessness, that God would speak to me on a case-by-case basis to know what He wants me to do in the moment. But I think part of the concrete truth is that we live in a world of excess and sometimes the answer is quite simple: share your stuff and give away what you don't really need.

Read it again for effect: If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in him?

Oof! It's like a kick to the stomach thinking about how much extra junk I could live without and giving all of that stuff away. It aches even more when I compare the excess in my life to what the needy actually go without.

Why do we love our stuff so much? Even the stuff we don't even think about? I don't have an aswer for you there. I have a bunch of clothes that I haven't worn in a year, but they are so difficult to get rid of (you probably do too).

But if I think about it for a second: On the other hand, I get excited thinking about giving stuff away or living a life marked by sharing. This would be living life on the edge, on the edge where I trust God with my possessions knowing that he is the great provider. Trusting God enough to share even when there doesn't seem to be enough to go around. Now that is life on the edge, life to the fullest.

Isn't it weird how sharing or giving things away give us a sort of high on life? Have you noticed that?

One time I gave away my expensive sleeping bag to a homeless dude on the streets of Portland. It was a cold winter night and he even tricked me into believing it was his birthday (maybe it was actually his birthday). Shortly after talking with him, I decided to give him my sleeping bag. I didn't have another sleeping bag, but I realized he needed it badly, way more than I did (he didn't even know I had a sleeping bag in the trunk). It was one of the stupidest things I've done in the eyes of materialism or natural selection, but I felt like I should give him my sleeping bag, so I did. I felt a weird happiness afterward just thinking about how I overcame selfishness and did an absurd act of putting someone else's needs before my own desires. God bless that homeless man, wherever he is. This left me feeling happy, not empty.

Allow me to switch gears for just a sec.

Sometimes I also like to think about how God provides for people regardless of whether we choose to help them out. The thing about it that blows my mind is that when we engage someone in need and show them God's love through sharing or giving, then we are the ones that end up being changed. I believe that God would have provided according to his perfect plan either way, but he lets us jump in to take part in it, and this is life-altering for us. God never forces us to love each other, but when we do, we are better off for it.

Now when the rubber meets the road: what do I do with all that extra stuff I don't need? I go home and I give it all away. It's not like its being used anyway. Someone else can put those clothes to use instead of letting the moths have a thanksgiving feast in my closet.

Ok that seemed simple enough: but then what do I do with all the stuff I use regularly and can't give away? I should be a good steward of it and hold it loosely enough in my hands that when someone else needs it, I can share it with them.

Someone that embodies this bible verse is mother Theresa who believed in living without excess at the same level of poverty as the people she strived to serve (this was in order to show the people that she was at their side no matter what). At one point she was eating only water and rice just like the poorest around her, but then was told by her higher-ups in the catholic hierarchy that she could not do this because the lack of essential nutrients and vitamins would soon have her falling prey to the same diseases and nutritional deficiencies the poor suffered from and then what good would that do? She agreed to honor their requests but then added that she would then eat only what was necessary, no more, no less.

I am not endorsing a life of poverty for every person that is a follower of Jesus, but if I truly call myself a follower of Jesus, it is important to hold loosely to the material things of this world and tightly to the one who actually created all things. For none of all this junk, even if I had a million times more, will bring me lifetime happiness... only God can do that. And just maybe I can help spread that happiness by sharing and giving. What do you say?

being still

It doesn't need repeating, but I will say it anyway: We are constantly on the move.

We live in a time and era that expects 110% productivity out of us at all times without breaks. My life could be a prime example: working through residency, doing 28hr shift every 4 days, trying to catch up on life and manage the resulting chaos on my days off (when I should be relaxing), all the time praying to God to keep me sane and that nothing crashes and burns in the process.

But who said that's a bad thing? It is definitely a good thing to stay busy and live a productive life. But there is definitely a balance. From experience, I have realized that this life-in-the-fast-lane mentality becomes a problem when we never slow down to live in the present.

Have you ever been called a workaholic? Do you have an always-on-the-go schedule? Does your life seem to continually pass you by in a blur?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then chances are that you have fallen victim to productiv-itis.

I am making fun of the situation, but it's true!

Everything you might be involved with may be a positive and worthwhile investment of your time, however, it is so important to slow down at times just so that you have a chance to appreciate your surroundings and reflect on what is happening to you. This is so that you have time to mentally go through the process of reprioritizing, changing things that need to be changed, healing, restoration, strengthening. Slowing down also gives us a chance to pause and thank God for his provision and guidance through it all.

And slowing down is easier said than done: When we never slow down, we frequently get used to life in the fast lane to the point that we are uncomfortable with being still, undistracted, and in the moment. Have you ever been hit all of the sudden with a moment of stillness? Sometimes these "stillness" moments are planned: a nice slow walk in the neighborhood, or a planned dinner for two, but sometimes they come out of nowhere. Just to be honest, if you are like me, you probably don't like being still at all and when these moments happen unexpectedly where you are forced to be still, you probably get all anxious. WHen these moments hit, I feel the need to fill the void with something productive. It's as if I had let my schedule down because I wasn't able to be efficient enough to fill it to the brim with useful things to do.

I laugh when I think about this, because most of the time I find myself praying to God to slow my life down a bit because I am tired of feeling like I am stuck in a hamster wheel. My life passing by at 100 miles per hour day after day. But then a moment of quiet comes and then instead of feeling peaceful, I feel anxious to get more things done.

Because of this, I knew there was a problem. This is why I decided to make a strong effort to be still on a regular basis. Because of my hectic schedule, the only time that I have to take a deep breath and take in my surroundings is when I wake up 15 minutes early and make time to reflect and spend time with God before I leave for work.

Before I started, I hoped that this butt-early morning quiet time would make an impact on the way I carry myself the other 99.9% of the time when I'm in the fast lane at work or wherever. I can see now that for sure it has helped me feel more at peace, content in life, and has helped me connect better with God. Overall, I realize that I've needed these moments of quiet all along. Where before I was just barely surviving, now I have made time to stop, breathe and reflect on how good God is to me and because of it, I am one step closer to living life to the fullest.

Jesus definitely lived life in the fast lane, but he also made tome for stillness. As I read his life story, I can imagine that with everyone following him from town to town, he must have been exhausted. People expecting 110% productivity from him at all times because they were so needy. But even with all the sick people he had yet to heal and all the things he had yet to teach about, he would frequently go up into the mountains to be with his father and pray.  He probably chose to go up into the mountains because that was where there was no cell phone signal and he could find solitude. He would make room for the stillness and quiet moments in which he could reflect and be undistracted by anything else. I think he took these hikes alone because he knew that he NEEDED these moments of quiet. Then once rejuvenated and recharged he was able to come down from the mountain and once again be fully present in his ministry with the people.

If Jesus needed at times to be still and reflect and pray, then maybe we are no different?

As for me, I'm just hoping the morning routine continues to hold up.

the God who sees

Just got back from Kenya this past week. Spent a couple weeks over there doing medical clinics with a group of helath care workers from my church. While there, we partnered with a local organization called Serve International that is based out of a church whose purpose is to provide hope and love to it's community, in this case we participated in the organizations weeklong medical clinic.

Let me say that it was a bit overwhelming to confront first hand the enormous need that existed in the small Kenyan town of Kakamega. (Not even to mention the rest of the world!!!)

Some cases were perfect for our clinic: one lady came in with an ear wax impaction in her right ear that kept her from hearing out of that ear. I spent a whole half hour digging into her ear with every tool that I could find in order to pull out an inch worth of wax. When she realized she could hear again out of her right ear she began to cry. Amazing. (btw, if you haven't seen the youtube video of people as they get to hear for the first time with cochlear implanted hearing aids, it's a must-see, it will make you cry)

Other cases were quite helpless and hopeless from our clinic's perspective: Anohter lady walked up the next day and sat in front of me. She had come in for fevers and feeling ill. She also smelt bad, really bad. Then she took of the cloth that was covering her head to reveal 2 grapefruit-size cauliflower-like rotting flesh wounds on her head. The flies were all over her head. No wonder she smelt so badly. It turns out she had a form of scalp skin cancer and there was nothing to do. Well I guess almost nothing. I did take her to a more private area to provide wound care by soaking her infected wounds with iodine and trying to clean her up as best as I could. As I cleaned her wounds, I muttered "God help me" under my breath as I knew I could not do much. I also gave her antibiotics. We gave her the rest of our iodine and two trash bags full of sterile gauze she could use to provide wound care for about 2 months. The iodine would keep her skin cancer without infection (and hopefully with less smell and flies). I gave her name to the head of the local ministry so they could keep tabs on her and help her out. Before she left I told her that God sees her and loves her very much, that he has not forgotten about her. I saw that we could not cure

There are some things in life that I don't fully understand why God allows them. Take for instance: rape, cancer, birth deformities, tragic accidents, devastating natural disasters.

In this lady's life, I'm sure she was isolated and ostracized as a member of society because of her illness: something that could naturally happen to anyone.

It's easy to say, but I felt that in this and many other cases I saw in Kenya, I had to resign my thoughts and instead thank God for his faithfulness. Let me explain myself: even though from my limited perspective this was "unjust" and perhaps even cruel for God to allow this to happen to one of his children, I can rest in the fact that God sees and knows everything, and He would not allow anything to happen unless He knew that good would come from it.

And sometimes its easy to talk about someone else's life and how much they must suffer for whatever is going on to them, but it's important to also think about areas in our own life where we are still asking God: "why me?"

Be encouraged that God is called El-Roi, "the God who sees." He sees your life and my life and keeps track that no pain goes unaccounted for. He has a plan for each one of us that is for good and not for evil, a plan for a hope and a future. He sees this lady and all my other patients that I got to meet in Kenya in the past weeks. He sees those areas of your life that are too painful to speak about.

The good thing is that we don't even have to try to rationalize our painful experiences of past or present to make things make sense or add up. (it may never add up until we are face to face with our creator when we can then get a glimpse of the whole picture) Therefore we can just rest in faith knowing that God has not made a mistake or a divine oops in your life. God loves you too much.

Also sometimes it is tempting to think that God is limited to our strength for self-help or to what you can do for someone else who is suffering, but let me tell you that God is way bigger and powerful than our wildest thinking. No problem or suffering is bigger than his love for us.

I leave Kenya in complete peace of mind. I know I don't have to worry, because He was there long before I got there and will be there long after I leave. I am just humbled to be able to be used by him to be small part of these people's stories of how God loves them. A very small part, and God didn't even need me in the first place, but he chose to use me there. I am honored.

But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. - Psalmist David in Psalm 86

refreshing contentment

I reflect to moments in my life that I have felt at peace. Whenever it is a windy or rainy day, for whatever reason I feel more at peace. Whenever I am forgiven by somebody I hurt or choose to forgive someone who hurt me. Whenever I choose to forgive myself. Whenever I have worked my butt off at the hospital and my patients are better off for it. Whenever there is a birth in the family. Whenever someone I love texts me just to see how my day is going. Whenever I climb into bed at the end of a long hard-worked day. Whenever I watch a good movie that reminds me of the deeper meaning of life. Whenever I choose to be honest and let out feelings long held hostage. Whenever I take that first sip of icy crisp Coca-Cola on a sunny afternoon. After a good workout. Whenever I watch a sunset. The list goes on.

What would it look like to live a life of peace? What is it about those people that seem so at peace, comfortable in their own skin? Refreshing to be around? You know, whenever I struggle with contentment, I think of these people I have met along the way that truly seem to enjoy their life. They may not have much money, popularity, or be the most good looking person you ever saw. No matter how simple their life is, they are happy. I want to be like that. This just goes to show how more stuff and accomplishments in life won't necessarily bring you to happiness.

I think the secret component that these "magical" people have is contentment. They just seem to be present in the moment, not trying to be elsewhere or distracted by the illusion that they need anything else to be satisfied.

I am pretty sure Jesus must have been like that. In the bible he didn't seem to care to climb the social ladder, or to win the daily Jerusalem popularity contest. He was just present and content, taking his time in every interaction, fully engaged with life as it happened. Putting myself in his sandals, he could've been bogged down by the constant throng of the crowds or found himself overwhelmed by the need of the people. He could have easily suffered anxiety about the pain that one day he would have to endure on the cross, but there is no trace of that in his life's story. I actually think he was at peace because he knew what really mattered in life and maintained this perspective. When constantly surrounded by people, his love and compassion for each individual person he met must've been tangible, carrying him through the most difficult of days.

Speaking of contentment or lack thereof, last year was a difficult year in my training. The first six months I was practically living in the hospital with less than 6 hours of sleep per night. By the time the summer came around, I was burnt out. And I spent the second half of the year recovering on easier rotations. It got to the point that I would get excited if patients didn't show up to their appointments or just dreaded having to get up out of bed for another day of work. For a long while there I was off balance and unhappy.

During these hard times, I would get disappointed with myself thinking about how I am doing what I always dreamed about (being a doctor) and how I have everything I need in life, yet I was still unhappy and discontent with life.

Solomon (wisest man to ever exist) speaks to this subject in Ecclesiastes where he writes how meaningless the pursuit of pleasure is, comparing it to chasing after the wind. However in regards to contentment he mentions "Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God."

Contentment in life is therefore not dependent on our lot in life, but is completely dependent on God.

To illustrate my point I will share that very recently I was simply exhausted and overwhelmed by the current hardships life was throwing at me and it was around the time that my church was having their yearly conference. I had been praying for God to give me contentment amidst the struggle. Then on the first night of conference I felt overwhelmed by God's love for me and felt that God was telling me: Are you content just being loved by me?

Wow.

This reminded me that life is a love-story from God to his children. We get to go through life and its ups and downs and we get to interact with its beauty and complexity. However, during the good times, we usually take stuff for granted and don't take full advantage of the life we get to live. Then during the bad times, we forget that amidst the struggle, his unending love is still explicitly interwoven into every second of our life. So his question for us is: Whether you are facing one of the most awesome or darkest moments of your life, are you content simply being loved by God?

I believe that in the end, there is no secret key to contentment besides the perspective that God loves us and sustains us. And his love is greater than any storm you will ever face. In those moments it doesn't have to be fun or easy, but maybe if we keep the perspective that God loves us so much and has us right where we are for a reason, maybe it can make it a bit more tolerable to put one foot in front of the other.

overwhelming brokenness overcome by LOVE

I am overwhelmed at the writing of this blog. My heart goes out to anyone who is feeling broken. I have been broken and I know the feeling well. The question is what to do with the overwhelming feeling of sorrow?

Many of my patients confide in me as their doctor with hopes that I am able to help them with their brokenness. Brokenness without hope or end in sight. Most of the time, all I am able to do is just sit there and listen. The healing power of being present and just listening is all I have to offer. My heart goes out to every single one of them.

More recently I was in a patient's room with the team of doctors: this patient faced severe intractable abdominal pain that was debilitating. All of our medical examinations and tests had come up silent as to what may be causing her pain. To us doctors it would be easy to write this pain off as emotional and the kind of pain you tell the patient to "just deal with it." But in the end there is no denying that this patient truly feels this pain. After we left the room, my shoulders were slumped as I felt the weight of yet another case I could not help. Then I got a call from the nurse: "the patient would like to speak with you, no one else." As I returned to the room by myself, I just sat and listened to the patient describe her brokenness and frustration as tears streamed down her face. Once again all I could do is listen and pray to God that this pain would stop tormenting her abdomen.

One time during my training in med school, I heard of a patient that was requesting vitamins because he couldn't afford groceries to eat. Although I was able to help out with a small amount of money at the time, I never forgot about him. So overwhelmingly sad.

The most remarkable story I ever heard was one of my patients who in meeting her for the first time looked upset. I apologized for being late in seeing her in the office as I thought that this was the reason why she was upset. She confided in me that she was actually upset because she was hearing voices. She had never told anyone else about this. I asked her how long and she mentioned that she had been hearing voices since she was a teenager. When I asked her whether she remembers if there was any trigger that caused her to start hearing voices, she immediately recalled that all of this started after she was molested by her own mother. Now she deals with the daily struggle of constantly hearing the voices, all while raising five daughters as a single mother.

I could recount countless other stories of people I have met that are so overwhelming and difficult to bear: suicide, war, hurt, hatred, loneliness, rejection, pain, depression, hunger, disability, death, sickness, disaster, devastating accidents.

God is love, but the question that always lingers is "why would he allow of this suffering?" Many times I have personally asked him, "why would you let this happen to ME?" With regards to this question, I can only rest in the fact that God indeed has a reason for allowing everything to occur, including the bad.

The truth is that this world, although it has sparks of beauty and light, is a very dark place because of the brokenness we face. But the hopelessness and despair that we feel is only one small piece of the puzzle. We can only see through our limited experience. The bigger picture is that God loves us and therefore everything that happens, happens for a reason. God even uses our hatred for one another and the natural disasters, somehow redeeming them and turning them around for good. As I read about him, I know that he has a perfect plan, a plan to bring us to everlasting joy, to direct us back to him, to his love.

In my case, for example, if I never would have faced the year long dark depression I faced during my senior year of high school, I probably would not have been so hungry to find God, who was the only one who could truly satisfy my soul.

And the bitterness I felt was so real for a long time. My bitterness was directed against God for allowing me to go through that extreme loneliness. I was bitter beyond belief. But the truth is that he was there the whole time, it just took me a whole year to finally decide to allow him to begin healing my deepest hurts. In the overwhelming brokenness, there was an even more powerful force called LOVE.

The bible mentions that we can let our brokenness go, and exchange these rags for riches of eternal unending love that will forever satisfy. And there is nothing that can separate us from his love.

Therefore when I find myself overwhelmed by brokenness in my own or someone else's life, I remind myself to pray and release these heavy burdens into the hands of our creator, knowing that He alone can heal us and is faithful to make us whole again.

So in the darkness of this world, let there be light...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Jesus

not ours to judge, but ours to love

The other day I had a friendly discussion about God with an agnostic co-worker. My co-worker had grown up a certain religion, but then later in life had become agnostic. He became disenchanted with his religion after realizing that it was more divisive that it was unifying. He felt that religion should bring unity and fulfillment to the world, not judgment and hatred. I agreed.

He pointed out many examples where in the name of their god, people have hated each other and inflicted harm upon each other. A well known example in the history of Christianity are the crusades which claimed many lives in the Middle Ages. Even to this day, there is plenty of bigotry "in the name of Jesus." My co-worker ended his statement by mentioning that religion only brings more judgment and intolerance towards others of different beliefs.

What's funny about this conversation with my co-worker is that even though I understand where he is coming from when he says that "religion" just brings more judgment and hatred, I personally have had the opposite experience through my experience with God. God has helped me judge less and love more.

The only way I can explain this is that there seem to be two types of Christians: those that are still earning their salvation through "being a good person" and those who have been transformed by God's love.

Those that are still trying to earn their salvation by being "extra-religious" might think that because they lead "holier than thou" lives, then others who are "more sinful" are going to hell. A blatant example is the person that holds up a sign that informs its readers that they are going to hell. That person might even be well-intentioned and say that their sign is to help other get into heaven, but I have yet to understand how a judgment sign like that would lead someone to finding God's freely given grace.

On the other hand, there are those followers of Jesus that have been transformed by God's love (I consider myself one of them!). These know how God loves them even as they continue to be selfish humans and therefore they have no place in judging others.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

Personally, I remember how lost I was before God's love broke into my world. I am nothing more than a beggar transformed by God's grace. I still struggle with selfishness every day, but God has given me his unending love. As I continue to mess up and am no better than anyone else, how then can I judge others who in my opinion are messing up?

Before I allowed God's freely-given love into my life, I had no love to give others. It was only after I opened the doors to his love that his love started overflowing from my life into the lives of those around me. Thats when I started to truly love others instead of judging them. Even the people that had judged me! (judging a judg-er does not make it acceptable).

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: LOVE the Lord your God with everything you got and LOVE your neighbor as yourself. ALL the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. - Matthew 22:36-40

(NOTICE JESUS DID NOT SAY TO "JUDGE YOUR NEIGHBOR", OR "LOVE ONLY THOSE NEIGHBORS YOU GO TO CHURCH WITH"!)

In another story, the bible talks about a prostitute who was caught in the act and the leaders of the church had judged her and were getting ready to stone her, but Jesus stepped in and spoke: "let the man who has no sin throw the first stone." What's crazy is that Jesus was the only one who could have actually judged her given that he himself was without sin, but instead he shows her his grace and love. If this is the example that Jesus leaves with us, then who are we to even think of judging or condemning someone else to hell?

[Sidetrack: You might ask, well then don't you believe in hell? Doesn't the bible speak about a hell where "bad people" end up? I'll tell you that I believe that the issue of hell and heaven is a personal decision that happens on a daily basis. Personally I remember what hell was like when I would beg people everyday for their approval and affirmation. "Tell me that I am cool enough, that I am worth it, pleeeeeeeease!" My life was centered around me, me, me. That is hell and I was choosing it daily for myself. My life changed to heaven when I accepted God's free love and grace and mercy and stopped looking to other people for self-worth and value. Heaven is deciding each day to live a life centered around God's love (if we want to, we can even continue to enjoy his love for all eternity even after we die, heaven forever).]

Back to not being a hater... In the case of someone of different beliefs or that seems to live their life in selfish ways, I may disagree with them (and it's ok to disagree) but it is still so important to love and accept them. By loving someone with the same love God has given us, I allow God's love another chance to impact them on the inside as he sees fit, the rest is between them and God. In retrospect, I can say I personally was never positively affected by a hater, but on the other hand, God's love changed my life for real.

At the end of the short conversation with my coworker about religion, I told him that my personal relationship with God helped me judge people less and love them more. I am so grateful that this life is not about "earning" God's love and that I can stay clear of the "holier than thou" competition. If life were about karma or good works I would most definitely be screwed (we all would).

Our job is not to judge each other, but to love each other! As only God's love could change my life, only his unstoppable love is able to transform this world we live in.

PS. I wont pretend that I am anywhere close to perfect, either. There are plenty of times daily when I find myself subconsciously judging people. "God please help us see others through the lens of your love instead of the judging lens of self-righteousness."

make room for what matters

 

I am extremely attracted to the idea of minimalism.

 

I absolutely love thinking about what I would take with me if I was told I could only leave my house with a suitcase packed with my most essential belongings. I also happen to love reading blogs about people who strive to narrow down their belongings (or closet) to only 37 things per say.

 

Only the essentials... No room for clutter or unnecessary junk...

 

Minimalism reminds me of the time when I took an 18 day hike through the Gila Wilderness where all we had was the essentials, tightly stuffed into our 60 lb trekking backpacks. We didn't even carry deodorant (or toilet paper for that matter). It was an amazing trip. No extra stuff to weigh us down and hold us back from the wild adventure ahead. No extra stuff to distract us from our beautiful surroundings. (if you're wondering how we managed to do without TP, ask me later).

 

Minimalism also reminds me of the time when I had to fit all of my belongings in the back of my pickup as I moved from California to Texas for residency. The game of tetris is a great analogy as to how I crammed everything in so snugly. I did this to ensure I had all that I needed for my new life in the great city of Houston.

 

More recently this past Sunday, minimalism reminds me of how I strategically chose the 7 articles of clothing I would be wearing for the 2015 Los Angeles marathon. Ditch the fanny pack, ditch the hat and the phone and the keys. Just 7 specific articles of clothing to succeed and get the job done (shoes, socks, underwear, shorts, and shirt).

 

What makes minimalism so attractive? Why does this way of living seem like that fresh air I have been holding my breath for?

 

The truth is I am the king of spreading myself too thin, of double booking my schedule and being late, of living distracted because of all the junk, of overcommitting, of accumulating unnecessary baggage, and you can only do that for so long before you go insane.

 

So why not ditch the clutter in my life? Less clutter means less distractions, less competing priorities, less weight to carry, less stuff to worry about. All this means more room and energy to spend on what truly matters in life. And extra junk in our lives comes in all shapes and sizes, your baggage may not only be boxes of physical stuff, but may also be emotional baggage. Just think of all those grudges and insecurities you've been lugging around for ages.

 

I strive to get rid of the unnecessary to make room for what truly matters (God and people). This permeates everything I do (even in what I choose to speak up about).

 

Pack only the essentials.

 

You may think that your life cannot be further simplified or further decluttered: "it's just too complicated." That may be true to a certain extent as life is not perfect and we are not perfect people, but reality is we can still strive to make room for what truly matters by tossing what isn't necessary in our life.

 

The most essential thing we should pack with us is from God. He LOVES us so much that we can then in turn overflow in love towards others. So if you try to live in one simple principle, live in love. Jesus also said "all the commandments and rules and regulations found in the bible can be summed up into loving God and others." Everything else doesn't matter.

 

And when every once in a while I manage to pick up some extra clutter I had already purposefully left behind, once I realize it, I turn again to toss it, no big deal, because there is always grace in abundance.

 

And I finish with this: Jesus said "Come to me all you who are tired and heavy-burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke instead and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls."