Let Your Life Breathe

Hello dear readers,

As I gathered the messages for this month on the theme of Simplicity, I have also been preparing for the arrival of my second child, who is due to be born any day now. I want her to come home to an orderly house, with everything her parents need to take care of her, clean and put away just so. I want my older child to feel well-prepared for this monumental change, to be reassured by watching his parents taking it all in easy stride. And if I could clean out the fridge, dust the bookshelves, and organize the spice rack before I leave for the hospital, that would be great! 

But I know this picture-perfect household is a fantasy and that I’m setting myself up for frustration by naming these things as goals. Our lives are busy and chaotic and full, but our goals can be simple: make time for the work Spirit has given us and make time for each other. For me, and I suspect for many of you, those are often the same thing. If I don’t let my life breathe, how can I expect to let it speak?

The messages this month taught me to think about simplicity in a new way. Rather than a lack of something (busyness, adornment, material things), simplicity is a positive presence. A simple life gives us the gifts of focused energy, of direct speech, of clarity in communication with Spirit, of humility, and of time to devote to the people and activities that bring us joy.

Tomorrow the Daily Quaker Message will begin a summer break as I take maternity leave, though you’ll still receive a message every Sunday during this “off-season.” Please consider taking our reader survey to let us know how this ministry can serve you better when we return.

In September, Jon Watts will be guest editing. The Daily Quaker is Jon’s brainchild, so you’ll be in excellent hands. I’ll see you again in October. Until then, be well!

In friendship,

Maeve Sutherland
Editor of the Daily Quaker Message

Reader Responses

How do you know when you have enough?

I believe wealth is having enough so you are comfortable sharing what you have. I have been told that when Rockefeller was asked the same question, he replied, "Just a little more than I have now.

— Sally C., New York, NY, USA
Common sense should tell you, however we are fractured beings. I can’t speak for other countries but I’ve lived in many places in the USA, and everyplace I’ve been there a booming business called storage units. When you have one of them cause your house can’t hold all your stuff you have way more than enough. Sure some have a purpose, I used to have one, realized I had enough, I don’t anymore 🙏❤️🌻

— John V., New Braunfels, TX, USA

This Week’s Messages

Mon Jun 23

The Secret of Contentment

“I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.” …
Tue Jun 24

Simplicity as a Way to Avoid War Tax

“Living on a reduced income is related to our refusal [to pay war taxes] only as a progression of awareness, that our entire economic life is tied into violence. It seemed logical that the less we participated, the less we’d be giving to that system.” …
Wed Jun 25

Outwardly More Simple, Inwardly More Rich

“Voluntary Simplicity is a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living. This way of life is not a static condition to be achieved, but an ever-changing balance that must be continuously and consciously made real.” …
Thu Jun 26

The False Promise of Advertising

“Advertising often offers us a material product, technique or device to achieve a limited, outward expression of the very desire for human solidarity, intimacy, closeness and love that we are called into in our most profound spiritual experiences. The right clothing, cosmetics, beverages, accoutrements are portrayed as necessary to our entering into a warm, happy life with others that holds no grief, anger or fear.” …
Fri Jun 27

How to Grow in Holy Truth

“If any should think, that we placed religion barely in outward conformity and plainness, such are greatly mistaken; so far from it, that if we should outwardly conform in every thing, in which the Holy Scriptures direct us unto, or that godly elders are moved of the Lord to advise; yet, if our hearts are not right in His sight, and we do not witness a growth in His holy Truth, all the external conformity and plainness in the world, though good in itself, will avail us nothing as to Divine acceptance.” …
Sat Jun 28

The Closest Thing on Earth to Eternity

“Simplicity begins with a leap of faith – faith in oneself and, for many, faith in their creator. Simplicity will enable you to leap lightly. Increasingly you will find yourself living in a state of grace, finding […] the sacred in the ordinary, the mystical in the mundane. Shedding regret for the past and concern for the future, you will begin to live fully in the present moment, which is the closest thing on earth to eternity.” …

Banner art © 2010 Liz Di Giorgio

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Author

  • Maeve Sutherland

    Maeve Sutherland is a communications professional who never recovered from her wonderful childhood at a Quaker elementary school. She has spent her career helping nonprofits share their stories, from schools and universities, to museums, to radio stations. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Maeve spent a year living in “Peaceable Kingdoms,” pacifist intentional communities around the world, where she learned that everyone has a role to play in shaping a better world. She worked as a freelance social media manager before joining Thee Quaker Project. After returning to Quakerism as a young adult, Maeve now attends Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in Philadelphia.

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