Financial Permission To Change

The econ­omy is pre­sent­ing a won­der­ful excuse for peo­ple to do what they have been want­ing to do for years — to sim­plify Christ­mas. The high dol­lar stores are in trou­ble. The dis­count stores are doing well. Over­all, there is more shop­ping but less buy­ing. That is not a bad thing. Peo­ple are still get­ting out for the sea­son, but not feel­ing the need to over­spend. A num­ber of alter­na­tives are com­ing into vogue too. Some of them have to do with hav­ing a higher appre­ci­a­tion for less.
For many years now, I have been a stu­dent of sim­plic­ity. It is not a poverty con­cept, but a grace that applies itself to every part of life. I do more coun­sel­ing but attend gen­eral com­mu­nity events less. I sub­tract from my sched­ule when I add to it. Bal­ance is a sim­ple bless­ing. Most of all, I bud­get my men­tal and spir­i­tual ener­gies. I worry less and med­i­tate more. I am also learn­ing to let the chips fall where they may. No one has the energy to live life for oth­ers. Let­ting them fail in the short-run increases the odds of their suc­ceed­ing in the long-run (remem­ber the prin­ci­ple of the Prodi­gal Son).
Sim­plic­ity takes some dis­cern­ment. It is not cheap­ness. Sim­plic­ity knows when to go all out and really cel­e­brate. It is gen­er­ous but not waste­ful. Sim­plic­ity stands back a step or two from all of the social and per­sonal demands, then picks and chooses fewer but more qual­i­ta­tive options. Pace is pre­ferred to per­for­mance. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
As jobs dry up, peo­ple have per­mis­sion to move, change careers, and recon­fig­ure expec­ta­tions. Best of all, the most pre­cious com­mod­ity becomes theirs once again. Time. For all of the dis­com­fort cut­backs bring, there is an exchange for time. Peo­ple find each other again. The spirit of adven­ture returns. New forks in the road are taken. Prayer returns as praise, rather than the mere utter­ance for more things.