Case Study Three
1. What does a simple life look like for you?
To me a simple life looks like focusing my energy and attention on what truly matters, namely: love for God and people. It is also about defining what really matters on a macro scale, which allows the micro to work itself out.
2. Do you want to live a simple life?
At the start of the year ‘simplicity’ was one of the words that I believed would mark it. So yes, I want to live to simple life. I want to live a simple life because it reduces the amount of micro decisions that I have to make on a daily basis and allows me to focus my attention towards more pressing issues.
As a result of me simplifying my life, there are certain things that I don’t even entertain because they are not befitting of who I am or what I have been created to do.
3. What does your day to day look like?
Chai. This one really depends on what day it is and what I’ve got planned to do. For example if I am going to the office, my days look quite different as compared to when I work from home.
But regardless of what day of the week it is, my day always starts the night before. If I slept early (and consequently wake up early) then I usually have time to go to the gym as well as pray in the morning. If I’ve slept at an unfortunate time, then even prayer time is restricted to “Lord… HELP. Amen.” It really gets like that.
If however, I was to paint a picture of an ideal day, then it would start off with contemplative prayer. This is a prayer of silence where the goal is to simply be with the Lord.
It can be five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes of me just sitting there in silence. Not expecting to ‘feel’ anything per se, but just enjoying communion with the Lord. I’ve found that the more I’ve done this, the more my soul has craved for me to carve out these pockets of silence throughout my day.
After that I will delve into the scriptures. Prayer and Bible time are usually mixed together. Here spontaneous bouts of intercession can take place also. I try to stay sensitive to whenever I feel a burden to prayer for someone.
From there it would be straight to a fasted gym session. If I’m too hungry to train fasted then a banana or peanut butter & honey sandwich will do.
Throughout the day I like to watch videos, listen to podcasts, and read books on Christian spiritual formation. ‘The nature of change’ is a topic that really intrigues me. Specifically, the nature of sanctification (or becoming more like a Christ).
To summarise, my days vary depending on what day it is and what I’ve got planned. One thing that remains constant is my mindfulness when it comes to the ‘information diet’ that I consume. I think it is important to consider the mediums (e.g. a book vs a short video) as well as the messages that we are familiarising ourselves with.
4. What are the key principles that govern your life?
At the start of the year the three words I used were simplicity, faithfulness, and impact, however recently these have changed. As I grow and mature they will probably continue to do so.
Simplicity, faithfulness, congruency and obscurity are my currently life principles.
Simplicity speaks to clarity. Clarity of who God is, who I am, and what I am here for. This way I can focus on what matters and ignore most of the noise.
Faithfulness speaks to committing to lifelong discipleship, being in this for the long haul, and not wavering when the winds blow (Ephesians 4:14).
Congruency for me speaks to consistency and harmony of character. Who I present myself to be publicly must be an accurate reflection of who I am in private. As a kid I’ve always feared being adored by strangers, but hated by my close friends & family members.
Obscurity. The discipline of obscurity is something that I am learning to grow in. I’m learning to actively seek the ‘lowly’ places (by the world’s standards). I’ve found that a lot of the richness of life and this walk with Christ is found in the mundane, in the ‘unimpressive’, in the things that my right hand does, that my left hand is not even aware of (Matthew 6:3).
I hope you noticed that I removed impact from the list. Not because I feel it’s unimportant, but because I now see positive impact as an outcome of one abiding by the principles listed above. For example, the principle of being a world class striker is not to ‘score loads of goals’. For the most part, a striker who masters the fundamentals and understands the principles of marksmanship will inevitably become a prolific goal scorer. In like manner, I believe that positive impact will be a natural consequence of me abiding by the aforementioned principle.
5. What are you most looking forward to in life that keeps you motivated?
I have the same ‘hopes’ that most people in this life have e.g. growing old, getting married, having kids, etc etc. But ultimately, as cliche as it may sound, my ultimate hope is in Christ and in the age to come.
In John 11 Martha is able to cope with the fact that Lazarus has died because in her words he will be resurrected “in the resurrection of the last day” (John 11:24). Here Martha gives us a clear example of how understanding Christian doctrines should ground us on a daily basis, both during periods of celebration and mourning. Therefore, saying that my ultimate hope is in Christ is in fact not a platitude, but an anchor for my soul and a compelling reason for me to keep going.
So to answer the question, my hopes for the future are probably the same as yours. I just try to view my temporal hopes in light of my eternal hope in Christ. I’ve found that the most devastating times of my life have come when my hopes have been misaligned and I have put too much weight on a hope not promised. The proverb “hope deferred makes the heart sick...” (Proverbs 13:12) holds true. So I try to weigh my temporal hopes correctly, hold them loosely, and put my ultimate hope in Christ, His promises & the age to come.