Christian Minimalism: clutter is exhausting

I've been fascinated recently with minimalism.

The idea seems to be that we have too much stuff. And we can de-clutter (Marie Kondo) and simplify our lives and it will help on all sorts of different levels.

Interestingly - one of those levels is spiritual. I've been interested to see that almost every "minimalist" website and video seems to reference spirituality.

There is Essentialism by Greg McKeown. I listened to an interview/podcast he did with Tim Ferriss. Greg is clearly a Christian and talked with Tim about faith matters. Amazing. And Tim podcasted it out to million-plus listeners.

I found Yeong (not sure I have her name right). She is a minimalist living in Austin, TX with her sister. She is practicing minimalism and relates it to Zen Meditation.

I have been watching videos by Nathaniel Drew. He doesn't bring spirituality into it directly. But he did this one-week meditation experiment that was amazing.

Then I found a few more explicit Christian minimalists. Take Simplify by Christine, she has a "testimony" video that is fantastic.

What I realized when I started getting into this is that my journey with minimalism started in college when I read Living More Simply by Ron Sider. It's not really about minimalism. But it's about simply sustainable living. The kicker? It was written in 1980! It's shocking that the gospel of Jesus Christ was addressing the problems we have today, through Ron Sider, in the early 1980s.

Anxiety? Minimalism seems to help.
Clutter? Sustainability? Freedom from consumption? Frugality? Minimalism seems to help.

Meditation is a consistent theme among minimalists. And something that rings true throughout the videos and books is a sense of joy. There is a thread of deep joy.

Could it be that minimalism brings joy? Or better, the things minimalism deals with bring joy? De-cluttering brings joy. Sustainability brings joy. Frugality brings joy in decreased financial anxiety.

Just before I wrote this, I spent 15 minutes cleaning up an "office" space in the house. A desk that had about 20 items on it, now has three. Because it only has three things on it, I dusted. I hadn't done that in 4.5 years living here. I have to say - the experience was fantastic. Liberating. Just 15 minutes.

It helped me get out of the house this morning and go for a run. It helped my prayer life. It helped me get in a 10-minute silent meditation.

Clutter is exhausting.