Simply Sleeping on the Set
I am really enjoying the benefits of reading Richard Foster’s book, The Celebration of Disciplines. I was already inspired to start making Minkers videos prior to exposure to the amazing book. It was an afterthought to make my first episodes relate to it. I’m grateful for clear direction for the first 13 videos. Of course, good grief if I ever produce that many! That sounds like a ridiculously large number at this point in time. Lord willing I will achieve it with His strength alone!
Seriously though, everyone should read this book, especially if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ. I can personally guarantee you that a serious and relentless pursuit of the Biblical principles outlined in Celebration of Discipline will change your life for the better. You will be liberated from the deadly patterns of this world. More importantly you will be made free to pursue intimacy with God more deeply than ever before. This is not one of those books you can quickly skim and have happy go lucky feelings that make you feel better about mediocrity. You will be challenged to the core and come out with countless ways to apply the Christian life you once only dreamed of or wondered about. The concepts are not cursory. Read this book and be challenged to pursue your walk with God, not just as long as it takes you to read and consider the pages, but for the rest of your life as you practice what you’ve learned with dedication.
December’s discipline according to Ethnos’ year long schedule through the book is Simplicity. I have been taking serious efforts to study, embrace and practice each of the disciplines we have reviewed thus far: Meditation, Study and Worship. For me, simplicity is very personal and practical – though not to the exclusion of those that have come before. I guess my life has been marked by simplicity already, so I connect with the concepts readily. God has blessed me greatly with an ability to detach myself from things of this world. I say that not to my own credit, but to God’s glory!
I have been greatly blessed with just enough to meet all my needs in life. I have never been rich so as to challenge my ability to remain true to Christ. Even so, I have seen what I have been given as a great blessing, and I never am in want. As a single guy growing up, I always had desires for simplicity. I was a visionary and always saw possibilities of doing some extreme things for the Kingdom. I still don’t know what those things will be, yet I believe I have been distinctly called by Christ – called not only to believe in Him as Lord and find newness of life, but to some sort of involved and radical, if not occupational ministry. Will I speak these things only in hope and lack of sight, I believe wholeheartedly that God has called me to this end.
While my marriage was not at all a “distraction” from my ability to live simply, it presented some new challenges. I suddenly had to look out for someone else and consider their interests and hopes – something I GREATLY miss. I love the lessons and love that grew in me that can only result from such a close relationship with another human being. There is no substitute, and if “my will had been done”, I would have spent the rest of my life in such a position, working through difficulties and overcoming all obstacles. Even so, I believe some day – Lord willing that I should live – God will bring someone special to me again. I believe I have done my due “study” and consideration of all potential scenarios, and it does not seem that God is directing me to be celibate and single for the rest of my life… though I believe I have considered this possibility with great diligence and an open mind.
In some ways, I lost my ability to pursue a simple life in my marriage. Let me tell you that no discipline should be pursued without balance. I put my marriage first… in fact, a little too first, perhaps set up as an idol before God! I did not put simplicity above my marriage or above God. I gave up my desire for simplicity when I was married and did my best to pursue a life that pleased my wife. Unfortunately I didn’t have the “means” to do so, which in reality became yet another idol to keep me from contentment. I should have realized my inability in all things and trusted in God to provide all, even if that meant the same end, which was the eventual loss of my wife. Unfortunately my action and choices lost the love of my wife AND my closeness with God.
Fortunately my story ends (or “begins” again) with victory in spite of all. God’s grace has sustained me, and I have grown in supernatural and exponential ways. The blessings I have received have increased in direct correlation with my surrender to God’s sovereign plans and ways. Each time I try to satisfy my own needs or pursue something I know to be outside God’s plan for mere convenience or temporal satisfaction, I lose ground. Yet again, God’s mercy and love are lavished upon me with special blessing, even in answer to prayer of faithful ones… and so I am restored daily, even hourly!
Am I special or favored by God? NOT AT ALL. If anything, I am one of the worst… graced upon to prove that it is God’s work, not mine! The bountiful and amazing blessings I’m receiving – which are unmistakably powerful and rich in the spiritual realm – are available to all! They are availed and sustained by faith, by reliance on God to provide. I have found that practice of the spiritual disciplines has been the road to blessing, freedom, and unbelievably sufficient Power. It is not a means to an end (give me benefits), but a relinquishing of all to the desires of the one who is called “Lord of lords”. I plead with you all to pursue God relentlessly, even in tears. He is not hiding. He is not hard to find. However, the rot of this world and its foggy and glamorous distractions cloud our minds with so much garbage, that WE make Him seem obscure, far off and hard to “experience”. Do the work though – with ALL your heart, mind, soul and strength – and He WILL be found by you. All the rich and crazy promises He gives us will be known by you as well. Start off by reading your Bible with renewed vigor… and I suggest getting Richard Foster’s book and reading through it in a small group of like-minded Christ followers. Keep yourself in a relatively small church community where people take the Christian walk seriously. Don’t look to get your ears tickled and fade into an auditorium setting with no connection or accountability, where a select few supermen do all the work of the body. That’s not the “church” Jesus painted a picture of. Be a hand, be a foot. Serve and live in intimacy with the Body of Christ. Read the Word and DO what it says, and you WILL be blessed and find that a relationship with the risen Jesus Christ can be vivid and relevant!
OK, my standard stream of consciousness writing style surfaces once again. Let’s recover from that tangent!
Now that I’m single again I recently realized that I can pursue simplicity again. After reading through the chapter I immediately set to work going through everything I own, stacking massive stuff to get rid of. Stuff that has no value but to clutter and distract. Legalism? No, not at all. Not in the slightest. Rather, I feel great freedom and joy with this pursuit. Just today I further realized and remembered how this detachment from the material was how I used to operate. It had been so long since I had felt free in this segment of life that I had forgotten how it felt. As I simplify, new joy is being discovered. I’m pretty excited about it, really.
There is one small story I’d like to share in closing – the very thing that inspired me to write… though hugely introduced by random spiels and tangents. I’ve been working on some videos lately as a hobby slash ministry. I see it with much potential for the future, so I’m pursuing it passionately. No, even more so, I feel inspired if not called to do so. My energy and mind activation have been blessed I believe – though even this I need to find balance in and not put in a place higher than pursuit of God in more direct ways.
Anyway, I’ve been greatly delayed and slowed in my production on the second video, largely because my apartment has been so torn apart in my pursuit of simplicity and such. The areas that are normally designated to do studio work are pretty cluttered, and it has taken me a long time to clear them. Still working on it. Anyway, I felt a real tangible blessing this evening, even now I tear up a bit thinking about it.
A while ago, my friend and Elder Dave – perhaps prophetically spoken – suggested that perhaps I needed to recover something from my youth. I often look back at the innocence and unnatural wisdom of my youth with a detached fondness and admiration. Lately I’ve been reminded that the same God who blessed my youth has been with me all this time. I have not lost the respectability that I once had, and I no longer have to loathe parts of myself, even though some of them led to sin and great catastrophe. Even more so, through various happenings I have been reminded of specific parts of goodness and lessons that God has sanctified and perfected in me. Through the newness of His companionship, even old lessons are being renewed with greater clarity, so the fullness of my life makes some sense and makes me glad.
I realized today that among the things I can get rid of is my queen size bed. I have no need for it anymore. Years ago I slept simply. I slept on couches, mattresses on the floor, and even right on the floor. I was happy and blessed in that state. I will return to it once more. A great joy and sense of liberation swept over me upon this memory and realization. Not only that, but I realized that getting rid of the mattress will solve my temporal and petty vexation in relation to video production. I can now use my bedroom to its full potential. I used to have my huge mattress disrupting the space between the puppet stage and the green screen. Now I can move things around freely, with much freedom. Simple and worldly considerations, but God used them to bring me great joy.
Not only that, but here’s a specific testimony to God’s goodness and provision – a very simple thing, but profound in its effect on my heart. As I was moving props into my liberated studio bedroom, among them was my decorated Christmas tree. When I saw the tree isolated with all the space around it, I was reminded of a great blessing. I saw that I could sleep on the floor beneath the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music.The memory of doing so at my parents’ home came to me. Beautiful simplicity and innocence. The goodness of God, His good pleasure to bring such wondrous memories to mind. I’m unworthy of the manifold richness of His mercy. He knows every fine detail of my being. He knows how to surprise me and get through my callous exterior. His ways are so much higher, yet He seems to “stoop so low” to reach such simpletons as I. His actions are always good. Thank You, Father in heaven. Thank you for my Christmas tree and for music that brings great joy to my heart. As light to darkness, You came. A simple baby that needed to be fed, held, and covered for warmth… so am I in my great need for You. Thank You for becoming like us in frailty so that You could be raised in power. And some day we will be like You? What? That’s crazy! We are so undeserving. Yet we thankfully receive, for without You we perish. With You we live, thrive, rejoice and worship. Masterful in execution is Your every deed.
And no, I didn’t sleep with the candles lit – it was totally staged! I wanted to “set the scene” so you could see the minkers and me enjoying the simplistic and nostalgic atmosphere that God used to bless this old yet healing heart. In a way, the candles represent the “missing element” though. Childhood memories add a fireplace to the music and Christmas tree nap. The scene is also significant because this tree, these minkers, this goofy and childish person, and these candles will soon be seen on the set Fred and Caleb Show, Episode 5: Simplicity!… a preview of us sleeping on the set, with some of the actual props. 
Let’s not wait and hope for Santa. He will never arrive. There is one who will return like a thief in the night. His return is inescapable. Let’s “surprise” Him by being His bride to the world. Let’s do His work as the members of His Body, as His Spirit enables. The time is short. The advent of Jesus Christ is at hand!
Yes, indeedy … simple is refreshing. It seems as though life is way to complex and inundated with overload in all arenas. Our homes should be safe places; as uncluttered as possible. Last year, and this year as well for Christmas decorating, it is my plan to let a majority of the snowmen “hibernate” in the attic. They will no doubt be more comfortable up there in the coolness anyway. If the grandchildren were able to join us for the holidays, it would be fun to see their enjoyment of the snow people multitude. Without question, the enemy of our souls is working overtime to keep us distracted from spending time keeping our spirits nourished. Instead, our souls (mind, will, emotions) and bodies are overstuffed with substances which lack nutrition … it is when I am disciplined in all of the compartments at once (spirit, soul, body) that I feel the fruit of the Spirit maturing. Shame on me for being lax. Though there have been circumstances for several years that have made it challenging to be disciplined, there is really nothing but lack of self-discipline to account for stagnation; discouragement; loss of focus. It will be great to complete the Bible reading plan this year (assuming I will be able to catch up the few days I am “currently” behind). Along with reading the Word, My Utmost For His Highest devotional, increased prayer, and journaling, and I have felt sensed God’s presence so much more. With your encouragement, I plan to work on doing more uncluttering and simplifying this next year. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent post Phil! I especially love your last paragraph, very simple and to the point, just like your quest for simplicity.