Jeff Bridgforth :: Webcraftsman

Doing the “Right Things”

October 30, 2006

Books · Random · Spiritual Musings

I was reminded of some­thing that I read sev­eral years ago that con­tin­ues to ring in my head and guide my heart.

For many peo­ple, sim­pli­fy­ing means noth­ing more than “doing less.” But sim­pli­fy­ing is not so much about doing fewer things as it is about doing the right things.

…For even the “ideal” sim­ple spir­i­tual life (what­ever that is) will still be a busy one. Like Jesus and the apos­tle Paul, any­one devoted to lov­ing God and peo­ple will lead a full and active life. But such a life will also be more focused, fruit­ful, and sat­is­fy­ing because it empha­sizes the right priorities.

– Don­ald Whit­ney, Sim­plify Your Spir­i­tual Life, Nav­Press, p. 13

I shared this idea with a friend last week and I am brought back to it tonight as I think about my life. I have expe­ri­enced a lot of frus­tra­tion and empti­ness recently. Life has been full.

• My fam­ily wel­comed our third child two months ago. Adjust­ing to being par­ents of 3 has been a full experience.
• My office is com­pletely dif­fer­ent both phys­i­cally and philo­soph­i­cally. And all of that is still being shaped. And I was away for the first month on baby leave so when I reen­tered the work envi­ron­ment at the begin­ning of this month, I felt like I was com­ing in mid-stream and have got­ten swept up in the current.

Over and over again, this con­cept of sim­plic­ity has been ring­ing in my head as my life has felt full and my spirit has felt empty. I need to be doing the right things. It means that I need to come back and prac­tice pri­or­i­ties.
One rea­son I like Don­ald Whitney’s per­spec­tive is that when life gets full, I am tempted to want to do less. But that is not how God would have me to respond. He wants me to do the right things. And not in my power but in the power of the Holy Spirit.