so i've written about the beginnings of my simple wardrobe story, but how can you get started even wanting to think about a simpler wardrobe? maybe you are happy with the way things are. maybe you have only what you need and you naturally tend toward keeping it that way…good, you've already got a simple wardrobe. i guess i'm thinking that most of us tend to desire more than we have. we think that we'll be happy if we get just a little more- money, stuff, house, clothes. i deal with this struggle. i haven't arrived at some zen contentment state and probably never will. it has gotten easier, but i still have to keep reminding myself of this temptation... keep pushing myself to recognize it and step past it... keep recognizing the gifts i already have. that wanting keeps us spending, and maybe more is not the solution. chances are we are going to reach a point in our accumulating where we realize that more is just not bringing lasting contentment. there is always something new to want.
most of us in the western world tend to desire more than we need. we don't have a very good understanding of what we really need to live. when we see other people's needs, real need for clean water, safety and employment…we can start to see some of our "needs" as excessive want. seeing other people as our neighbors, brings us closer to seeing ourselves as part of the solution to their deprivation. whether christian or not, most of us believe in the golden rule, "whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them," matthew 7:12. if the roles were reversed, would you see things differently? if you were sewing t-shirts in a factory 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, for just enough money to sleep on the cement floor of a room with 7 other girls and to share a pot of rice twice a day…would you wonder who this person was who needed so many cheap t-shirts?
"love your neighbor as yourself," mark 12:31.
maybe when we start to consider our neighbors' need, we can start to adjust our own into a more appropriate place. maybe we could actually start to desire less.
most of us in the western world tend to desire more than we need. we don't have a very good understanding of what we really need to live. when we see other people's needs, real need for clean water, safety and employment…we can start to see some of our "needs" as excessive want. seeing other people as our neighbors, brings us closer to seeing ourselves as part of the solution to their deprivation. whether christian or not, most of us believe in the golden rule, "whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them," matthew 7:12. if the roles were reversed, would you see things differently? if you were sewing t-shirts in a factory 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, for just enough money to sleep on the cement floor of a room with 7 other girls and to share a pot of rice twice a day…would you wonder who this person was who needed so many cheap t-shirts?
"love your neighbor as yourself," mark 12:31.
maybe when we start to consider our neighbors' need, we can start to adjust our own into a more appropriate place. maybe we could actually start to desire less.
most of what we can mindlessly consume costs someone else. learning about the origins of my clothes was a kick in the gut. books like where am i wearing by kelsey timmerman and overdressed: the shockingly high cost of cheap fashion by elizabeth l. cline expose some ugly truths that we can not ignore when we truly love the neighbors who make our clothing for us. check them out at your local library.
i think ultimately the desire for less is going to originate in finding that something or someone else is more important than more.
in my case, i say, people are more important than my desire for another cheap t-shirt, pair of jeans or whatever.
"He has told you what is good…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
less > more
love,
jane
"He has told you what is good…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
less > more
love,
jane
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