KISS

Around 20 or so years ago I heard an interesting saying KISS.  No it isn’t the rock band. It means keep it simple stupid.  Although stupid isn’t a good word we can change that to silly, splendid, what ever.  The meaning is to keep things simple. 

In January at church I watched a video on how we should keep our life simple. The verse they used has been on my mind ever since.  It is Ecclesiastics 4:6.  It is better to have one handful with peace and tranquility than two handfuls with stress and turmoil and chasing after the wind.

The way society has changed we have gone far away from keeping our life simple.  Upon my observation here are some results of our fast paced life.

1. People have become so busy with work and making money they no longer have time to visit a friend resulting in loneliness and higher suicide.
2. We don’t have time with our spouses resulting in a high divorce rate.
3. We say we spend quality time with our children and ignore what they want quantity time. Child crimes, dropout, apathy etc. in our children ha skyrocket.
4. We don’t have time to cook healthy meals so we go for prepackaged or fast food. We now have the most obsessed malnutrition society to ever walk on this planet.
5. We have to make lots of money and have it now the result is people take their work home and even on their holidays having no or little rest.  Stress is causing a high rate of diseases. Many people can’t even slow their bodies down long enough to get decent nights sleep.

This list could go on.

After the January study having a simple life kept popping up.  I have a problem with the little two letter word NO as a result my life was far from simple.  

 I began to evaluate my life and realized I was getting stressed out and more importantly I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing.  I always say if you have to do something you have less joy and more stress and it takes you longer to do it. But if you want to do the same thing then you are at peace and it flows better. I had turned my life into a have to life, frequently this is being a people pleaser instead of a God pleaser.

After much pray and thought I am beginning to let go of things in my life. What is working in my life, what don’t I enjoy doing?  One thing is my Etsy is not working for me so I shall be closing that. Cutting back on local art shows is something else I have been doing. It will take some time but I’d rather have one handful with peace and tranquility than two handfuls of toil and trouble and chasing after the wind.

 As Bobby McFerrin catchy song of the 80’s  said don’t worry be happy.

 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about what you will eat of drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you be worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6: 24-27  Perhaps this is why I find peace in taking pictures of wildlife which I never strive to find.