Keeping it Simple

I've always avoided the "____ for Dummies" books or the "Idiot's Guides" books, simply because, well, I'm not an idiot or a dummy! (I did buy Latin for Dummies, once, because I was desperate...) Lately, though I've been trying to keep things s-i-m-p-l-e in my life and that K.I.S.S. maxim has been popping into my mind- "Keep It Simple Stupid." Well, once again something inside me bristled at the word "stupid," so I've been brushing it aside while still trying to apply the principle itself. Well! I came across a book a few weeks ago at Half Price Books that I picked up because of its lovely title: Smart Women Keep it Simple. Now THERE's a book I can get into!

I posted yesterday on my homeschool blog that I've been strategically saying no, and it's been really helping our school schedule. So today, I was reading a chapter from "Smart Women," and it really affirmed what I've been thinking lately and added some new scriptural insight. Chapman says,
"When I become unbalanced and wonder how it happened, the Bible offers this explanation: "A doubleminded man [or woman]," James 1:8 says, "[is] unstable in all he does." Some women say yes to the Lord and no to the world. Others say yes to the world, but no to the Lord. But the doubleminded woman says yes to everything! Consequently, she's continually off-balance, like a drunken high-wire artist, lurching dangerously along the wire, leaning first to this side, then to that. She's a cataclysmic fall just waiting to happen."
"Nobody wants to be doubleminded. But how do we know when to say yes, and when no is the better answer? Is the key to balance making snappier to-do lists, or prioritizing more efficiently, or ceasing to be so co-dependent?"
"I don't think so. The answer is easier than any of these things, and also much harder. Paul says, "I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)
"Simple, pure devotion to Christ- that's the prescription for a life in balance. The balanced woman is not out to please some of the people all the time, or all of the people some of the time. She's not committed to please anyone at all...except Christ. Her strategy for living is to be simply, purely, passionately devoted to the Lord."

That's it! Simple devotion. But, what does that look like as it is played out in my daily life and in my commitments? That's what I'm praying through right now, and what Chapman's book explores. Food for thought. It's a great book, and it's available for $.01 on Amazon right now. Smart!