I often like to share with my readers what I am reading. I do believe there are books that God purposely puts in my path to pay it forward sorta of speak. Simplify is one of those books. Let’s get started as I share a bit of this must read with you.

I looked up the meaning of simplify in the dictionary and this is what it said…to make simple, less complicated, easier to do and understand. Ok, well we all know that but I thought it important for you to see it in writing….easier to do and understand.

The author of this eye opening book spends a good portion of his work coaching and mentoring leaders, globally. He realized there was a pattern going on that included these words…. exhausted, overwhelmed, overscheduled, anxious, isolated, dissatisfied. This is a bi-partisan issue of young, old, poor, rich, professionals, parents, women and men, Republicans and Democrats. It’s a global issue that needs addressing.

Excerpt from Simplify ( I will jump around a bit)

I grossly underestimated the impact. Perhaps they hoped I would unveil a closely held secret, a key to the universe that would help them uncomplicate their frazzled lives. Perhaps they assumed I was well beyond these issues in my own experience and hoped I might whisk some crumbs of wisdom off the mahogany table of my life into their waiting and eagerly cupped hands. NOT SO! Those who know me can tell you Ive spent the majority of my adult life wrestling with the same dark swarm of words that I have been hearing from leaders around the globe. I am nowhere near immune. I know far too much about being overwhelmed and overscheduled and exhausted. I know all too well what it feels like to be anxious, dissatisfied, wounded, and spent.

Simplified living is about more than doing less. It’s being who God called us to be, with a wholehearted, single- minded focus. It’s walking away from innumerable lesser opportunities in favor of the few to which we’ve been called and for which we’ve been created. It’s a lifestyle that allows us, when our heads hit the pillow at night, to reflect with gratitude that our day was well invested and the varied responsibilities of our lives are in order.

If we don’t change how we live, our overcomplicated world will begin to feel frighteningly normal. We will become accustomed to life at a frantic pace, no longer able to discriminate between the important and the unessential. And that’s the danger. When we fritter away our one and only life doing things that don’t really matter, we sacrifice the things that do matter.

What if your life could be different? What if you could be certain you were living the life God called you to live and building a legacy for those you love? If you crave a simpler life anchored by the priorities that matter most, roll up your sleeves. Simplified living requires more than just organizing your closets or cleaning out your desk. It requires uncluttering your soul.

The author invites you to examine each chapter and its practices, access what Scripture has to say about it, hold a mirror to your own life, and then take action…There are no shortcuts to untangling yourself, it’s honest, rigorous work. ACTION IS REQUIRED

He challenges his readers to go beyond reading each chapter merely for theory. Apply what you will read with grit and courage.

Each day you will have a clearer purpose and each relationship will finally receive the investment it’s due without the needles clutter clanging around in your soul, you will be able to hear and respond to each whisper from God. Change is possible!

You may have to simplify to live the life God is inviting you to live. This process is not for the faint of heart.

Now go get the book.. xo

Simplify- Ten Practices To Unclutter Your Soul by Bill Hybels