People have called me backwards. People have accused me of being a simpleton. Against progress. Against the tide.
And in some ways they are right. I am not much for progress when there is too much sacrificed to it. Too much soul lost. Too much life lost. Too much thankfulness lost. Just too much of the soul of real living murdered for the sake of progress.
Inventing and pressing on into new frontiers are great ways to bring progress yes, but only if there are foundations and truths that are upheld and kept as the cornerstone to launch into a frontier of progress.
Sometimes I look at our society with all the conveniences, and then I see so much that has been sacrificed as well....courage, honor, community, truth, fellowship, simple thankfulness, and humility.
What I love about, as some have stated, the simple, non-sophisticated little back woods "frontier" town, have you, that I call home, is there is the convenience of the modern that still honors the traditions of old. There is comfort and such, but not at the expense of forgetting life and community. There is not (at least on a large scale) a trampling of others around you to exceed in your wants at the expense of their needs.
When You Strip Away Piece by Piece
Brick by brick. Layer by layer of any house or building, strip away everything that fills it, and you get a huge empty hole in your life and in your heart because you are left with literally a large void of just...nothing.
There's no feeling.
No Community.
No Love.
No anything any more if you fill your life with just convenience.
In my life I want it to be filled of phone calls, texts, stops on the street, people at the store; anything that resembles a piece of me being given out to them.
Slow Down.
Take your time. Make something that lasts, a legacy.
I want dirty dishes.
I want piles of laundry.
I want all those little moments in my life of interruptions that lead to loving and giving to someone a piece of myself.
The problem with all of this is though is I have to sacrifice self. Simple living is something that you have to slow down, embrace it, feel it, and sometimes hurt with it.
You want to gain less in order to give more...well then, get ready to bleed out yourself to others.
Live with hands open and alive to give to others.
I am not here to clean you up.
I am not here to straighten you out.
I am simply here to love you, and sometimes remind you that there is more to life then yourself by living selflessly.