Matt Smay

During the past 5 weeks at Adullam we’ve been spending some time focusing on 5 incarnational habits {intentionality, simplicity, calling, community, and stewardship}. Next week, I get to speak on stewardship, which has already proven to be an enjoyable and thought provoking subject to prepare for. However, this past week we focused on simplicity, which has stirred a few thoughts I’d like to share. The primary question being – What does a lifestyle of simplicity look like today?

It’s easy to think of examples of the extremes. On the positive side there are examples of  modern day monastic movements, like some of our friends in Innerchange that ”seek to live out the good news of Jesus among the poor”  (www.innerchange.org), and on the other extreme there are those of the rich and famous (the Hollywood elite come to mind). But what does it look like for the rest of us that live somewhere in the middle? 

I’ve been considering an alternative view of simplicity to help me frame the conversation. What if simplicity involves eliminating the excess, avoiding the complex, and making wise and premeditated decisions? And what if the world we live in pulls us in exactly the opposite direction, like a heavy river flowing towards excess, complexity, and compulsive decision making.

Considering a definition of simplicity that focuses on the difficulty of living counter to the culture might broaden our perspective a bit. For example, I think we probably all start out from a point of simplicity - whether that is back when we were kids, in college for the first time, buying our first car, taking our first job, getting married, having the first baby…on and on the journey goes, but it all started somewhere. Whether we’ve maintained a lifestyle of simplicity is the real question.

I was thinking back to when I first moved to Oregon from Southern California as a single guy in 1995, and I could fit everything I owned in the back of my 4Runner. In 2001, we (now married) moved to Colorado and I could fit everything we owned in a standard uhaul. At that time, we could barely make the rent on an affordable housing apartment and I was working 2 jobs. Now six years later, I look back and remember simpler days, but not with a longing to return. I don’t feel that we’ve lost our lifestyle of simplicity just because we have a house, a baby, a bit more furniture, and a car with less than a 150,000 miles on it.  The questions I must answer are - have we been able to eliminate the  excess (thought provoking and challenging), avoided complexity (I’m not working 2 unrelated jobs anymore), and been proactive in our decisions (I like to think we’ve stayed ahead in this regard)?

So, what if simplicity is more about being proactive in the moment (whatever that moment might be) and less about our finances, stuff, or place and position in society. I wonder if part of the challenge of dealing with simplicity is that we inadvertantly create a comparison point of view as a starting point for simplicity. So, rather that framing our view of simplicity from an introspective and objective viewpoint, we establish a set of comparisons, which might go something like, “We live pretty simple compared to…” or “Things were much simpler when…” This, I think is the beginning of the end for simplicity because it sucks us right back into the flow that assumes there is a one-size fits all standard of living that = simplicity. 

At this point, I’m leaning towards a view that simplicity involves the attitude and posture of life that includes keeping things simple, removing the excess, and being proactive. This might help bring some perspective to a subject that is not a one-size fits all issue…     

So, last night I was in one of those discount shopping stores with the family, watching Maegan while Maren shopped. We were having a great time – Maegan was cruising the isles trying to touch everything that caught her eye, while I was trying to keep her from getting hold of anything breakable, a sort of game we had going. It was actually quite fun…until…I started multi-tasking. A routine that has slipped into the background of just about everything I do. I didn’t even notice that I had begun reading an email on my Blackberry until Maren walks up carrying Maegan with one of those, ”Did you lose something looks?” That something was Maegan who had managed to get 2 rows down the store before running into mom – quite by accident.

I spent some time last night on the way home from the Rob Bell  ”The God’s Aren’t Angry Tour” wondering why I felt this unconscious need to stay up to speed on my emails. It occurred to me that it’s mostly due to the pressure I feel to not let the email pile build up too high. Instead of waiting to get back to the basement office, I try to stay ahead. Sort of understandable, but it’s interesting that I never really made a conscious decision to be on call 24-7. 

But there I was at 7:00pm, out with the family, checking emails while cruising through a store. Now that I’ve captured this dysfunctional habit in my mind – I’m faced with a real decision. As some might say, To Crackberry or not to Crackberry? And this is not just an email problem! I was on the way home from the event with a good friend, and I noticed that he’d been captured by a similar issue with Text Messaging…

The technology age has brought us many significant improvements to our lives, but occasionally it might be worth measuring at what cost they’ve come. I’d like to say there’s a simple solution to this problem, but the reality is – my Blackberry has become my mobile office. Perhaps the solution involves setting some internal Matt Smay office hours??? 

Paul Rhoads who I mentioned in the mentoring article described a discipline some of his co-workers have taken up that they call “Technology Tuesdays.” On Tuesdays they refrain from using most technology, like pda’s, internet, email, etc… So with this in mind, I’m setting a new goal that I’m calling my ‘Crackberry free zone’, which will be turning my Blackberry to Phone only during non-working hours. Wish me luck! 

Stewardship is one of my favorite words/concepts. I find stewardship is one of the make-it or break-it life issues. It effects our ability to sustain our lives, maintain balanced relationships, prioritize our time, and build our families. However, it’s often a subtle, under the surface issue that is barely noticed when developed as a character trait, but can cause our entire world to come undone when not maintained.

Stewardship can be defined as ‘guiding or directing something to completion.’ In this case, that something is our life, relationships, finances, health, spiritual growth, or overall well-being. We often set goals or priorities for  these main life issues, but I find stewardship problems typical occur when we make one, or a series of bad decisions in one of these major areas. Life is extremely complex today and our decisions can be mind-wrenching, which is why I think most bad decisions happen when we are confused, frustrated, or distracted.  In John 10:1-5 there’s a great passage that provides some context for us…

“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice… The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

The confusion and distractions can come from the ordinary, the mundane, and can have an appearance of good intentions, but just aren’t consistent with our calling. Calling is critical to the issue of stewardship because it is the compass and map for our unique destiny. It’s easy to forget that the easy path is not necessarily the right one, and that sometimes the things that are most rewarding require the most sacrifice. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus gives us a significant challenge, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Whether the decisions are hard or easy, I’ve found the right ones bring a fullness and consistency to life.  

I’m assuming that most people have good intentions and desire to be good stewards, but fail to recognize the thief for what it is. I will occasionally take a little personal inventory and consider –

1. Where in my life am I being robbed (time, money, health, relationships, spiritually, emotionally)?  
2. And where am I not hearing the voice of the shepherd?

The first question helps me recognize when I’ve strayed off course and the second is what helps keep me on it in the first place!