Small Stuff

The Discipline of Simplicity is not only a balancing act between needs and desires, but it is also an exercise in priorities. "Seek first the Kingdom of God" Jesus instructs. And that is where the Discipline of Simplicity begins, with the elevation of Godly things above personal things. That, in itself, takes practice, but even a little proficiency can produce noticeable changes. One need not be in constant communion with Christ in order to begin replacing old ways with new choices. Rather, as small achievements in spirituality begin to yield fruit, the failed promises of sinful habits become more and more obvious, and the desire to move forward becomes a stronger motivation than the fear of change.

All too often, the fear of change is rooted in "What if...". Our what ifs are quite often expressions of anxiety about particular outcomes, all of them extrapolated from the present and only some of them likely. That humans are better at imagining the negative consequences of our actions than the positive is wired in, an evolutionary result created by jungle survival. But the same forces lead to poor estimates of likelihood, so by enumerating the possibilities, each is given substantial weight, even though many of them taken together might still be improbable to the point of insignificance. The result is a life governed by the fear of failure rather than the hope of success.

To counteract this tendency, it may be necessary to think through only the most important outcomes, where most important takes into account both highly probable and highly beneficial (or costly) events. These outcomes with high significance should certainly be thought through carefully, but time spent on other outcomes should be recognized as being of little consequence. This approach can be summed up by the folk wisdom of Richard Carlson as "Don't sweat the small stuff." The unlikely and inconsequential outcomes do not deserve our attention and so should be dismissed from consideration early.

Few would argue with this common sense, as hard as it might be to actually practice not sweating over the small stuff. But even if the truth of the phrase is accepted, still up for debate is the distinction between small and large. This is where the Discipline of Simplicity comes into full force. Personal comfort argues to increase the amount of stuff in the large category, pushing the threshold to smaller and smaller stuff. This lets us keep our security blankets, the practices that provide busy-ness and keep faith and trust in God at bay. If the world really is a dangerous place and we really are on our own against it, then all manner of activity is required to properly keep our guard up. But alignment with God's will means worshipping Him alone and buying into His plan for our lives. That plan assures us that we are not alone, that He can be trusted to protect us and see us through any disappointments. And that worship reveals His world as a bountiful gift, filled with provisions that satisfy our needs. Armed with this conviction, we can lift the bar, shedding all sorts of useless complexity, entrusting our future to Him and devoting our efforts to the things that are important to Him. Ultimately, we are likely to conclude that through Him, nothing is worth our worry, that everything is small stuff.

May God lead you, bit by bit, to the realization that it's all small stuff.