I just finished reading, The Simple Life: Time, Relationships, Money, God by Thom S. and Art Rainer. You may know Thom from books like Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples and Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts.
Based on a survey of 1,077 individuals, Thom and Art saw that an overwhelming number of people from all walks of life said they need greater simplicity in their lives in order to be more fulfilled. Specifically, they wanted more simplicity in the areas of time, relationships, money, and God.
So, in a nutshell, the authors applied the concepts from Simple Church to these four areas. These concepts are:
- Clarity: knowing where you’re going
- Movement: intentional, incremental steps
- Alignment: making sure your life lines up with your goals
- Focus: eliminating things outside of your goals, even if they are good things.
For whatever reason, it wasn’t simple for me to read this book. I think after I saw the basic concepts, I pretty much knew where everything was heading. Basically, the idea of the book is applying the concepts of clarity, movement, alignment, and focus to one’s personal life. So, no big surprises here.
As a pastor, I think focus is the hardest thing for me. It’s easy, for the most part, to say no to bad things. It’s difficult when you have to choose between two, or more, good things. A little clarity and alignment goes a long way in making those decisions in our lives.
So, in the end, cool cover, good ideas, borrow a copy from a friend or read Simple Church and apply those ideas to your life. However, if you’re a layperson who doesn’t want to read Simple Church, then Simple Life might be just what you’re looking for.
mattjudkins.com 