Last week we introduced this new series, Ekonomia: Home Management toward Heaven. If you missed that article or video, check it out here. This week we are going to start this program by working on simplifying. If you want to watch the video, check it out below. Otherwise, continue reading for this content in blog article format.
Simplify for Christ
Acedia is a state of spiritual or mental sloth. One priest I know recently explained “Acedia today is constantly working and not getting anything done.”
How often do you find yourself busy all day but nothing from your to do list seems to get done? Or perhaps you set out to clean the kitchen and ended up scrolling social media for hours. Or perhaps you spent a whole day running errands but now there is nothing ready for supper, no clean clothes for tomorrow, and where is the vacuum cleaner even? Perhaps things aren’t that bad, but you can still probably think of times where you were just working for the sake of working and not feeling like anything is getting accomplished.
This really brings to mind Martha and Mary. Particularly, when Martha is working and working, and frustrated that her sister is resting at the feet of Christ. Obviously house-keeping and tasks oriented to serving guests are important, and indeed necessary. But it is also necessary that these tasks are properly ordered to their true purpose, loving and serving Christ.
Orderliness
This brings us back to the virtue of orderliness. Proper use of time, of goods, and the organization or proper placement of things.
What could Martha have learned about how she was using her time? Well, she was doing a good thing, in working to serve her guests. However, she was doing it with an attitude of frustration towards her sister. If we do our house work out of an attitude of love for our family we are doing a good thing. But if doing the house work is causing anger to form, we are hardly doing something healthy for our souls. Mary was caring for her soul, resting at the feet of Christ. Martha was caring for her guests, but not her soul, nurturing a grudge toward her sister.
When we care for our house and the people in it, we need to do it in a way which also cares for our soul.
Our constant busyness fills up our lives. Yes we need to get the necessary work done. But how can we do that and rest in Christ? Well, we can start by preparing room in our hearts, souls, and lives, for change. We need to free up time and energy to focus on putting Christ and the Theotokos at the centre of our households.
The Pareto Principle
There is an economic principle we can consider when making room in our lives. It is called the Pareto Principle, which shows that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. This is also called the 80:20 rule, and it works both ways. We also spend 80% of out time to get just 20% of our results.
Now, how can we use this principle practically? We need to keep the 20% of our efforts and goods that are giving us the 80% of our results. And we need to cut away from the 80% of our efforts and possessions which are not serving us or God. Let’s apply this to our closets for a practical example of how to do this. We wear 20% of our clothes, 80% of the time. So 80% of our closet is hardly ever, or never, used. If we donate some of that 80%, we can make more room in our closets. 80% of our stuff, our time, and our energy are going to things that aren’t pulling their weight. With this in mind, we have our answer. How do we complete the necessities and rest in Christ? We simplify!
Areas to Simplify
What can we simplify? First of all, we can simplify how we use our time. In particular, we can simplify our errands and activities outside the home. Let’s start with errands.
Errands
How often do you go shopping? Do you run out of the house every few days to grab a grocery item, some lightbulb that has burnt out, or a new pair of socks for the kids? There are many different types of errands to consider. Food/groceries, household shopping (clothes, household items), pharmacy, laundry/dry cleaning, library, recycling, or other errands.
The first way to simplify errands is to change how often we do them. First, try to make groceries once a week, then see if you can move it to every two weeks. Buying in bulk, and cooking and freezing meat and vegetables can help with this. Perhaps you can even make it three weeks or a month between grocery trips!
The second way to simplify errands is to automate them. See if you can order online, even from local businesses. Or if you can arrange to have an order ready for pickup. This eliminates time spent in stores (or libraries), it eliminates the possibility of getting distracted, and it eliminates impulse purchases.
Activities Outside the Home
Now for activities outside the home. Let’s take a look at our calendars. How many evenings are free this week? How many days do you have to just be restful? Doing the will of God does not mean doing more good things. It means doing less things – just what God wants you to do. Nothing more, nothing else. It is okay to take a break for a season from kids sports and other extracurriculars. Especially if it is getting in the way of family time. If anything, a break to reassess priorities can help your child come back to an activity with renewed excitement.
Habits and Activities in the Home
Next, let’s simplify our habits. In our free printable packet [linked below] you will find some worksheets about simplifying. Flip to the one about simplifying habits. If you haven’t printed it yet take a piece of paper and make these three categories. Want to do, Don’t want to do, and Want to Stop Doing. Now think of habits and activities that fit each category.
So want to do is for activities you want to do more of, like reading more often. Don’t want to do is for tasks that need to get done, that you don’t want to do anymore, but maybe can be delegated or you can teach your child to do if they don’t know how already. Also, you can put things that you like doing on this list, if a child just needs to learn the task. Don’t send your child outside the home not knowing how to cook, for example.
Finally, the stop doing column is for bad habits that you want to work on eliminating. Now we can refer back to this list and pick one we want to work on eliminating each week. Working on habits (the good and the bad) are especially helpful for making more room in our hearts and souls for God’s goodness to take root.
Inventory
The next area to simplify is our inventory. And that is just a fancy way of saying, if you aren’t a minimalist, you need to declutter. Not to become a minimalist, but just to get to the point where you have a manageable amount of stuff. I have a few blog articles on decluttering, which I will link to below. Remember the 80:20 rule we talked about. 80% of your stuff is not pulling its weight. It is not serving you, and it is not giving Glory to God. Those are the things we need to remove from our homes and our lives.
Organization is also helpful here, but out of the scope of this video. I can say that there is no point in trying to organize without decluttering first. And the good news is, after I finish this series, I will be putting together an organization course, with a particular focus on making faith a part of the process. I love organizing, and it is kind of my “thing” so I am excited about that.
An Image of Simplifying
Today we have covered the first part of home management – simplifying. We talked about different areas of home management to simplify – errands, activities outside the home, habits, and our home inventory. We don’t need to make our lives more complicated or more difficult. Instead, we want to simplify. So we can prepare room in our hearts, our souls, and our lives, to follow the voice of God.
In the next video we will focus on building a simple, clear, and firm foundation of home management. Be sure to hit the bell, like, and subscribe to get notified when the next video of the series releases!
Remember the image of Martha working without being able to rest in Christ? What is your attitude towards home management tasks? Are you frustrated with your family, or are your attentive to how you are living out your vocation – doing the work that God has given for you to do, in order to learn to love Him more and to love your family? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Homework
In the printable packet, go through the simplify section printables. There is a page to think through simplifying errands, schedules, habits, and home inventory. Also, there is a stock room checklist of basic things to have on hand so you aren’t tempted to make extra trips out of the house!
The Byzantine Life
For the free printable set that goes along with this video series, click here!
Thank you for checking out this week’s article. If you haven’t already, you can read our article about St. Gregory (Jan 25th) or the Three Holy Hierarchs (Jan 30th)
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