For the last 12 months I've been on a journey of sorts. While this journey hasn't taken me to the ends of the earth or the top of a tall mountain, it has given me some clarity. It has been during this time that I discovered minimalism, or at least came to the understanding that what I felt and what I go through every couple of years had a name.
Minimalism has played a big part in changing how I view the world. Slowly I have removed numerous items from my home that were simply taking up space. Movies, books, games, and just plain 'junk' that I had kept around in the event it might be needed. I'm becoming free from the desire to own things just to own them. It bothers me less and less when neighbors have things that I do not. Perhaps for the first time I'm figuring out what I really need. In fact by removing the things in my life that merely take up space it allows me to focus on what is important.
This is where things get complicated for me.
What the heck am I passionate about? What is truly important?
I love God, my wife, my family, and friends. I enjoy football (and other sports) immensely. I give my Kindle a daily workout with all of the reading I do. When the weekend rolls around I'm looking to see what movie I can cross off my list or hanging out with friends playing board games (still a fan of Catan after all these years!). Not to mention the various projects I take on with my church.
In fact, by the end of this year my wife and I will be debt free and have the opportunity to do whatever we want to do. Yet, I have no clue what that might be.
Because of certain constraints I'm unsure if being a pastor will ever be in the cards. I find great joy in teaching and preaching but my lack of expertise shows in so many ways that it is embarrassing at times. While I enjoy sports I'm unsure how much I would enjoy them if having to work in them day in and day out.
So what is a guy to do? Maybe nothing for right now and bask in this silence and solitude of not knowing.
I hope over the next few months this blog will help. I need to take what is in this thick head of mine and put it down on 'paper', or at least the digital world. Perhaps this will push me in one directions or another, or at least that is the hope.
