Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World by Richard J. Foster, originally published in 1981; now available in several formats through Amazon, Google Books, and Barnes & Noble, to name the biggies. Foster is or has been a theologian, teacher, pastor and writer, and (I just found out) lives near Denver.
We’ve had the 1989 paperback version of this book on our shelves for many years; I think Jim brought it into the marriage. For some reason I just recently decided to read it and have been challenged and rebuked by many of its ideas. Foster is well known for an earlier book, Celebration of Discipline, with this book being somewhat of a followup.
I’ve said before that I don’t tend to underline/highlight in books–probably because most of the books I read are library books. But I have lots of highlighting and stickies in this one, so many that I won’t share all of them. (All page numbers for quotations are from my 1989 edition and probably won’t match the current ones.) The most relevant statement for this blog, is: “There needs to be a certain joyful lightness about our task . . . Our work is no grim duty. It is a delightful privilege. We are engaged in a joyous adventure, not a sourfaced penance. God is no killer of happiness” (85, emphasis mine). I so appreciate his idea that we should rejoice in our service for God.
Here are three other quotations I liked:
“The first step I want to give you is not something to do at all. It is something to refrain from doing. Very simply, we should not try to be less egocentric. The attempt would be self-defeating. The more we work at being unconcerned about ourselves, the more conscious of ourselves we become. And so what are we to do? Nothing. Let the matter drop” (104). This quotation reminds me so much of C. S. Lewis’s statement about humility, that it doesn’t consist of thinking badly about yourself but of not thinking about yourself at all.
“Both Peter and Paul encouraged the practice of hospitality, which as any homemaker knows often involves considerable inconvenience for the sake of others” (48). This idea is a great encouragement to me in my own hospitality endeavors.
And, to go along with the above idea on hospitality, and in a broader context of how the Christian life is to be lived as a whole, Foster quotes Bernard of Clairvaux, who said, “Martha and Mary are sisters.” This statement, he says, is an example of the “superb balance in the ancient writings between the inward and the outward, between devotion and action” (148). Jesus does say that Mary has chosen “the better part” by choosing to sit at His feet, but He doesn’t say that Martha’s part is wrong. It’s always good for me to be reminded that the heart is more important than the hands, but that both have their proper role.
As I thought about these ideas I realized that I’ve written two other posts that center around the idea of simplicity, both of them written from a secular standpoint. The first is on the book Debt-Free U by Zac Bissoonnette, in which this mature-beyond-his-years 21-year-old talks about the dangers of getting sucked into the trap of thinking that going to a prestigious college is vital to success even if it means taking on serious debt. Much of his book centers on the necessity of refusing to be influenced by what other people think of us, or, as Foster says, “Most wonderful of all, we can lay down the crushing burden of the opinions of others” (98). As I said in that post, the idea that you make your decisions unfettered by a need to impress those around you goes far beyond your choice of a college.
My other recent post on a simplicity source was the one on Mr. Money Mustache’s blog. I felt a little ashamed of myself when I realized that I had been more convicted by his ideas on living below one’s means than by those of my dear husband, my father-in-law, and ultimately the Bible. But it never hurts to have the truth presented, no matter what the form. As Foster’s title suggests, true freedom does not spring from things; therein lies slavery. We often do not own our possessions; our possessions own us. I’m reminded of the a story that I believe comes from another excellent Christian book on simplicity, Randy Alcorn’s Money, Possessions and Eternity, in which he talks about the old stained and worn carpet that they had for many years in their basement. The youth group met there on many occasions, and no one cared about spills. It was all very relaxed. Then, finally, they decided that they just could not live with the old carpet any more and had new stuff installed. All of a sudden the atmosphere changed for those youth group meetings, because they didn’t want to mess up the beautiful carpet. I’m too lazy to go look up the story and see how it was resolved, but it’s such a good example of the type of choices that we make all the time between things and people. It wasn’t necessarily wrong to get the new carpet, but it was wrong to let the carpet dictate behavior. (Oh dear. I’m thinking of my beautiful dining-room set and how protective I am of it.) It’s very much a fine-line situation. Foster has a fascinating story about how his church pondered whether or not to build a new building and ultimately decided not to do so; that is extremely rare in churches of all stripes. Building programs are practically a sacred duty. But, he says, their decision was proven to be a good one. Again, is it always wrong for a church to build a new building? Of course not. But the motives have to be carefully examined.
So much more to say! I have another post in mind on this subject of possessions and simplicity. I’ll close by referencing the football game I saw and watched (most of) last night. (Broncos won over the Chiefs!) Hey, I needed to sit and keep Jim company as he obeyed the doctor’s orders after knee surgery and took it easy. More and more as I watch any kind of TV with ads (which is mostly just Bronco games) I’m so struck with the consumerism on display. (Hey, Debi, you might consider that the whole point of ads is consumerism.) One particularly ironic ad last night had a man leaving work on time instead of staying late, because there’s more to life than work. So what did he do when he left work? Got into a fancy new car. So . . . somehow buying a new car (one of the most unwise financial decisions you can make–even I know that) sets you free from having to work late? Instead of making it necessary for you to take on a second job to make the payments?
More to come on this fascinating and vital topic.