It’s June. I cannot believe it. Where did May go? How is Summer here already?

The last 2 weeks have been so beautiful outside – sunny, warm…perfect pool weather.

Sometimes, in moments like this where my favorite season arrives in what felt like a blink, I cannot believe how quickly time flies.

And now that it’s my favorite time of year I’m longing to know “How can I slow this time-thing down? Savor each moment? Soak in each long, beautiful, bright day?”

With this desire  rising from my heart each day, I have tried to slow down. To make less plans. To own less things that need my attention. To let tomorrow be open, free, available.

With this new attempt toward slowness, I am beginning to wonder if I’ve found a key to fully feeling and experiencing life moment by moment….simplicity.

Simplicity. Less. Open spaces. Availability.

To savor life, could less really be more?

Less plans…More free time. Less clutter…More freedom from taking care of items. Less demands and commitments…More availability to accept invitations that come.

Less.

Ironically, simplicity is not that easy. Especially for me: Type A, Achiever, Activator, Disciplined, Focused, Learner. That’s me. I love to do things. I love structure, making plans, experiencing plans… so, you can probably understand this subtle change toward simplicity isn’t my go-to tendency.

If that’s the case, why would I actively choose to let go of structure, plans, commitments?

Because I’m starting to realize there are certain gifts that come only through less: less structure/stuff/scheduling/commitments.

Despite my natural bent, I’m trying this because there’s gifts discovered in the empty spaces, in the unscheduled time, in the moments-in-between.

I have discovered simplicity has meant more time relaxing by the pool, gardening in the sunshine, accepting offers from friends & family, reading books that have been sitting around, and even moments to simply rest, pray, breathe, be.

What I’m learning is that simplicity in life creates open space; vulnerable open spaces which in turn greet us by handing us back our lives.

Like a mirror, the quiet will draw you into your reality.

But this quiet, it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s not for the person who doesn’t want to wrestle to find out if they have inherent worth, or the person who would rather take the “easy” route of pointing to their worth in the tangible achievements they completed that day.

Living simply will press you to discover who you are, how you think, what you believe about yourself, life and God.

So this practice of simplicity? This choice of less / quiet / openness? It will create peace, but it will take hard work to get there.

It’s hard because it makes us admit some things. One of the major realities dropping our plans will reveal is that we are not in control.

When I “put my doing down“, I’m forced to realize I wasn’t holding the world up to begin with. Yes, I was living like I was! The stress could tell you I most certainly thought I was. But the moment I stop, the moment I lay in legs-up-a-wall at night with no screens, no calendars, no agenda, I am forced to remember how small I am and how big God is.

This is hard, you see, because we live in a place that hopes we forget we are not what we do.

But the truth is….

If tomorrow you stopped planning. God would still remain at work.

If tomorrow you did nothing? You would still be loved.

If tomorrow you lost that big thing you’d been holding so tightly to. Child of God, you’d still be worthy.

If tomorrow your “holy grail” was found to be a fraud. Child, would still be enough.

In the quiet, in the less, in the simplicity of just breathing, just being, we can discover our worth and our futures and we can find they never relied on us anyway. God’s got this.

Be held. Find your worth. Savor this beautiful moment. And live free under the One who’s working His plans, providing for your needs, and coming to you as your life.

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Random musings and more:

The book I’m reading in the picture is Rachel Held Evans latest Searching for Sunday on loving, leaving and finding the church. Great read especially for those who grew up in the church and wrestle with being the Church in the changing culture of our world.

This year, I am grateful to have a pool to enjoy the weather! It’s only 3 weeks since it opened and I’m amazed at how much it increases my enjoyment and feeling of Summer. The minor cost of a pool membership for me Gretchen Rubin would say is a modest splurge worth taking for major happiness dividends.

“Put your doing down.” is a quote from a great message on Sabbath and what Sabbath means for our daily lives. Worth your listen!