Adding things to our lives is a socially acceptable and desirable practice. It’s also a rational inclination. We want our lives to be rich and full of good things. A full life is proof positive to most of us that we are living the good life if not “a” good life. But is filling our life with more good things or even just one more thing really what we should be about?
What point is one more activity, one more material thing, one more promotion or responsibility or even one more acquaintance if the addition is a deletion from the whole of our lives? Where does one more thing to do just become one more thing to do? Where do we become, as they describe the Platte River near where I grew up, “a mile wide and an inch deep”?
The fact remains, there are only so many hours in a day. Last I checked there hadn’t been any added on to the 24 we’ve had as far back as I can remember. Still, we believe we can somehow do it all: sleep, rest and examined lives be damned. But here’s a crazy thought, maybe we should try to add by subtracting.
What about if today we decreased our incessant additions and told our inner voice shouting, “More, more,more!” No! Less. Decreased the addition. Rested comfortably in what is in our life now. Considered the gifts we’ve been given. Allowed the people and things in it to bloom and flourish. Stopped burying what is under an avalanche or what is merely new only for the sake of adding something else. Vanquish FOMO forever! My guess is the bright shiny things will go on just fine without you. Those inner squirrels won’t miss you giving chase. You have permission.
It’s perfectly okay to put your energies into the many, many things in your life and feel the justifiable gratitude to God and His love for you. Stopping the addition and the spinning top it can become allows you to get off, to breathe, to commune with your God and give thanks for your savior.