Living More AND Less

(I wrote this brief piece about ten years ago.  I'm recently finding, though, that I need to take heed to its "suggestions" even more so during my life abroad this semester @ Handong).

A common reply to the everyday question “How are you doing?” is often, “Well…okay…more or less.”  Most of us find our day-to-day lives to be somewhere in between the “more” and the “less” of health and wellness, spiritual wholeness and, if we are honest, mental sane-ness. 

May I then make a few humble suggestions to encourage us all to live “more and  less” as a means of growing beyond the “more or less” of life?  I offer these as suggestions, not reproofs.  I readily admit that the biggest beam resides in my own eye as I regularly fail the more’s and much too often practice the less’s.  To some, they may seem trite and clichéd, but I trust to others they may prove helpful in some small way.

With that said, may we all be living by doing . . .

More Reading, Less Watching  
Good books are a treasure.  Search them out!

TV (films, the web) can be a trap.  Watch, above all, your step.

More Listening, Less Talking

Do I really listen?

Or, just wait to talk?

More Walking, Less Sitting

What wondrous things we can see and ideas ponder on a daily walk!

But, oh how stresses seem to weigh us down as we sit.

More Drinking, Less Eating

Water, that is.  Cool, clear water!

Food, yes, food.  Start by reducing portions.

More Helping, Less Hounding

“How may I help you?” is a wonderful way to encourage someone.

“What can you do for me?” is an attitude that often prompts us to pound someone.

More Asking, Less Accusing

Seek to understand before expecting to be understood.

Attribute the best motives to others, rather than accuse them of the worst.   

       

More Giving, Less Keeping

Remember Jesus said that you will be happier by giving than by expecting to get.

The less things we hold on to, the less hold things have on us.

More Thanking, Less Expecting

In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you.

The way we thank others reveals whether we truly thank God.

So, see the acts of others as their gifts to you, not as efforts to fulfill your expectations.

More Singing, Less Sighing

When a song is first in our heart, then it authentically resounds in our voice.

Sighing, however, is a true downer wherever it resides.

More Conserving, Less Consuming

The good things in life are few – they are to be savored.

The fast things in life are plenty – they favor by fattening.

More Serving, Less Summonsing

Jesus summed-up his life’s purpose in the words: “to serve and to give.”

Don’t expect someone to wash your feet; take up the basin and the towel – today.