THE SIMPLE CHRISTMAS

Glenn asked me what I'd like for Christmas. After thinking for a few seconds, I told him I'd like to get rid of many of the things I have collected over the years that are no longer needed in my life. I would love to remove junk from my life.

When I was a college student, I took a Household Management course.  There was a budget unit, an equipment unit, a values and attitudes unit and others. The unit on values and attitudes was particularly interesting. The teacher had us read the book Gift of the Sea by Ann Morrow Lindberg. When I get overwhelmed by all my varied interests, the thought pops into my head: Remember the Channeled Whelk.

Of all the sea lessons Lindberg learned, that one sticks out in my mind most. A whelk is "a snail-like creature".  The shell of this animal is about the size of a thumb. It is small, perfect, and clean. She describes it as having a winding staircase that opens wider in the center and narrows in the right places. In comparing this little shell to our homes, she points out how cluttered we make our houses with all the stuff we think we need.  The more complicated our lives become, the more untidy our habitat becomes. Some people are good at managing their collections. They box and store and organize and stash so cleverly that they don't realize how much time they are investing in the shuffling of their goods.

Others of us are NOT good at handling the worldly items we have acquired through our industry. Pretty soon it seems that the acquisitions are taking over the house.We don't realize how much of our subconscious mind is tending to our possessions. As Lindberg observes, "This is not a life of simplicity but the life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of." She suggests that it is a problem mostly inherent in a woman's life.  Because of all the duties and interests a woman has that come with household management, there is a huge problem of distraction. She describes women as the center of a wheel or giant web where all other responsibilities spread out like spokes or threads. It is so easy to get caught in one spoke of the wheel and neglect another which makes the wheel lose balance.

In the midst of my child raising adventure, I needed a lot of things that I no longer need. But, even back when I was deep in the ditches shoveling like mad to keep them clear, I could have made my life easier if less junk was filling my trench. As our family grew, our shelter needed to change from one that was too small to a larger one and then the need came to have a large enough place for extended family to return for visits. It is in this place that I have stopped to take a look at what I need.

While at the beach, Ann learned that "there is an art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much." If we have to carry everything we need, we will either break our backs or get along with less. She starts talking about clothes and then shelter and the things we keep in our shelter. Maybe that's why I love camping on the beach. We sleep in a tent with one suitcase of clothing and bare minimum of cooking supplies and plenty of food. The beauty of the sunsets and waves are our decor. If only we could figure out what to do with the sand at the end of the day.

This Christmas, I didn't put ALL my decorations up.  But, I used enough of them. It seems less cluttered and just as festive.  I even gave my kids some of the decorations that belonged to them (I sent some large nutcrackers to Hayley). I am going to try to simplify my life by shedding some of my worldliness in both my physical as well as my spiritual life. Remember the Channeled Whelk