Less is More. A Whole Lot More.

" Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

Matthew 6:19-21

The adage, "Less is more," can be applied to all areas of our lives.  We often take on more than we should.  I hadn't realized the full meaning of this until recently.  I understood this to mean all the things I was doing was probably too much and I needed to cut back so that I would have more time to do the things I was meant to do.  While this is true, "Less is more" also applies to my material things.

When I moved to Houston, I had to change my way of thinking when it came to my living environment.  I downsized from a 1700 sq. ft. house to a 600 sq. ft. condo.  I had a lot of furniture and decor that I had to let go of.  At first, it was really difficult for me to downsize because I'm a sentimental person and I felt guilty of letting go of certain items.  After some prayer and the realization that there was no practical way to keep all of my things, I felt God's Spirit of peace and direction to keep only what I truly loved and only what was practical.

Now, almost 7 months later of living in this small condo, I realize three invaluable truths:

1. I had A LOT of stuff!  Stuff I didn't need, stuff that got in the way of living more freely, stuff that I don't even miss.
2. MORE was causing MORE STRESS.  The more space I had, the more stuff I had, the more stress I had.  When you have more, you have more to keep up with, you have more to clean, you have more to maintain and manage.  
3. With less stuff and less space, I have more of what I NEED such as TIME, ENERGY, and PEACE.

Less is more...a whole lot more of what we need.  I don't know about you, but I need a lot more of Christ, and when I'm distracted by my stuff, I know it's time to purge.  Let's remove all that clutters and keeps us from having more of Christ today.  Let us have more of Him and less of this world.