Simplify. – Chris M. Moore, Encourager

I recently finished Simplify: Ten Practices To Unclutter Your Soul by Bill Hybels. It’s a pretty easy read with lots of very practical information.

Each chapter ends with a section devoted to action steps. Hybels asks questions for you to consider and gives you steps of how you can apply the chapter in your own life.

This book will be one that I refer back to a lot in the future — whether it is personally working through areas of growth that I identified or recommending it to friends and family.

Below, I’ve included a handful of nuggets of wisdom from each chapter along with the chapter name and subheading to encourage and help you.

If you’re interested you can find it at The Olive Tree Christian Bookstore on Bultman or order it from Amazon.

chapter one
From Exhausted to Energized
Replenishing Your Energy Reserves

Simplified living requires more than just organizing your closets and cleaning out your desk drawer. It requires uncluttering your soul.
There are no shortcuts to simplified living.
The antidote is leaving that stuff — sometimes undone — to sit down for an unrushed conversation with Jesus.
… you have to fight to keep your life replenished. No one else can keep your tank full.
Sometimes when we get depleted, we get scattered. We lose our ability to focus, and we jump from one distraction to the next with little to show for it. We confuse motion with progress.
Hybels shares 5 keys to replenishment in this chapter as well.

chapter two
From Overscheduled to Organized
Harnessing Your Calendar’s Power

Your calendar plays a critical role in determining who you will become as a person, as a Christ follower, as a family member, and as a friend.
Simplicity cannot be achieved without clarity about the big-picture target of your life.
If you want to hear more from God, be where His Word is taught. Regularly. Weekly.
How’s your daily time with God?
The power of words added to a calendar and then lived out changes who we become.
There are no shortcuts for face time.

chapter three
From Overwhelmed to In Control
Mastering Your Fiances

Judging by the sheer number of verses related to money, it’s obvious that a right definition with our finances is of great importance to God.
A 2012 Gallup Poll ranked the United States thirty-third in the world on a happiness scale. Having more doesn’t increase our happiness.
By definition, debt comes from wanting more than God’s current provision for your life and arranging other ways to get it. Let that sink in.
… debt dupes you into enjoying — temporarily — a false level of provision.
10-10-80 principle: I set aside the first 10 percent of my earnings for God’s purposes; I save the next 10 percent for emergencies, giving opportunities, and my future; and I live on the 80 percent that remains.
Simplify your life by being prepared for the unexpected.

chapter four
From Restless to Fulfilled
Refining Your Working World

You will spend roughly one-third of your life at work.
When accessing your current job — or any job you might consider in the future — I find it helpful to filter the role or position through four foundational alignments: passion, culture, challenge and compensation.
People join organizations, but they leave managers.
No matter what level of the company you’re on, you have a choice about what you will contribute to the culture.
What adventure is God calling you to?

chapter five
From Wounded to Whole
Making Room for Forgiveness

We cannot live simplified lives without attending to broken relationships.
In moments when things didn’t go your way or something isn’t said just the way you wish it had been said, the condition of your heart is revealed for all to see. How do you react? If you have enough of God’s grace filling your heart, you can see the situation in its proper perspective.
Other times when I am offended too easily, it’s a clear indicator that I am spiritually and emotionally depleted.
As understandable as it is to want the people who hurt us to pay in some manner, justice-seeking alone never leads to relational peace.
Forgiveness if a lifelong process.
Am I really going to let this little wrongdoing suck up my valuable thoughts, time and energy?

chapter six
From Anxious to Peaceful
Conquering Your Fears

Fear is debilitating. No matter how much we’ve simplified our calendars, relationships, finances, and the like, when fear strikes, the whole deal blows up.
If you don’t fulfill the mission God assigned to you, who will?
You must acknowledge your fears, naming them for what they are (and are not) and taking steps to free yourself from the bondage of destructive fear.
If you don’t already have a bank of powerful, fear-fighting Scripture verses committed to memory, consider this one of your Action Steps. Nothing brings peace of mind quicker than letting the truth of God’s Word wash over your soul.
Stop manufacturing worst-case scenarios. Stop exaggerating and catastrophizing.

chapter seven
From Isolated to Connected
Deepening Your Relational Circles

The number of people we know does not equal the number of true friends we have.
Relationships, like every other area of life, require regular evaluation, pruning, and strengthening.
If someone always gives you the lowdown on other people, you can be certain he or she is giving other people the lowdown on you.
… many of us will invest in and fully enjoy some very meaningful, true friendships; but we shouldn’t be surprised if, for one reason or another, life reshuffles the deck every do often. Though no one’s fault, things change. As wise King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, everything in life has its season — including friendships.
For obvious reasons, we cannot force or manufacture lifelong friendships. They are forged in the trenches of everyday life — and by definition, they take a lifetime to develop. I believe it we invest ourselves fully and freely, even as we hold these relationships with open hands, God in His grace will allow us a certain number of friendships that stick for the long haul of life. These friendships are a treasured blessing.

chapter eight
From Drifting to Focused
Claiming God’s Call on Your Life

This chapter is about life verses.
A “life verse” is a powerful, clarifying tool when it comes to simplifying our lives.
There are many good things you could choose to do with your one and only life, but those good things can easily distract you from the best thing God has called you to do.
“It bothers me that Christ followers require so much prompting and cajoling to do God’s work in the world.
Having a life verse is one of the most powerful tools I know for simplifying your life. Like a lighthouse in the darkness, it keeps you on course. It helps you make wise decisions about where to invest your time, energy, and gifts. It motivates you to ruthlessly trim the waste from your life. It drives you to live each day with fervency and passion.

chapter nine
From Stuck to Moving On
Welcome New Seasons in Your Life

When we view our lives as a string of random days connected only by the calendar, it’s easy to overlook the active movement of God.
Good or bad, easy or difficult, every season on this earth is temporary.
When is your time of silence? If you pace of life is nonstop, when do you give God your full attention? Do you set aside times during the day when you can think, pray, read, and engage in meaningful conversations?
Identifying your current season is vital to simplifying your life.
What are the lessons God wants to teach you right now?

chapter ten
From Meaningless to Satisfied
The Legacy of a Simplified Life

… living outside of God’s boundaries and provision leads to fatal dissatisfaction.
My parents are gone constantly. They make it clear what matters most to them. They show me every day.
Christianity in its truest form embraces God-honoring pleasure, joy, and fun.
When people are nearing death, do you want to know what they talk about? Two things: whether or not they’re right with their families, and whether they’re ready to meet their Maker.
He didn’t simplify his life by avoiding or removing the things that don’t satisfy; he filled his life with the things that do.