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SUMMER
1999
Gloria Horvay
Clerk, Salem Quarterly MeetingDear Friends,
In the last issue I started telling you about Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach. The daily readings in that book have had new meaning for me in the last few months.
We will be moving to Mullica Hill soon. That looks simple on paper, but the process it set in motion has been quite detailed. It has meant going through 23 years of accumulation in our home. The daily readings in Simple Abundance have been curiously related to this process of excavating my life. Going through stacks of boxes with items from elementary school, high school, college, early married life, travel, and then the parenting years, has truly helped me realize who I am, my authentic self.
A theme running through Simple Abundance is the discovery of your authentic self. Sarah Ban Breathnach advises that we should not have things around us we don’t truly love. With this in mind, I have been able to discard things that have no meaning for me. Of course, the thought of physically moving things I have no use for has helped the clean-out process as well.
As we have cleaned out and made more space in our home, I wish we had done more as we lived here. But there were Quaker activities, work, the kids, and other seemingly better things to do.
I mentioned the first two Simple Abundance principals are gratitude and simplicity. I have gotten pretty good at gratitude, as those who hear my vocal ministry may attest.
The concept of simplicity was harder to grasp until I started cleaning out my house. We rented storage space for boxes of things we want to keep but don’t need before we move. It has been so nice having the freed up space that I wonder, once we move, if we won’t get rid of more things.
The third principal is order. Once we have simplified our life, we must put in order what is left. Ban Breathnach offers as her recipe for contentment a guide for keeping order:
- If you take it out, put it back.
- If you open it, close it.
- If you throw it down, pick it up.
- If you take it off, hang it up.
Harmony, the fourth principal, is defined as inner peace. When we have simplified, or pared down our belongings and put them in order, harmony enters our life. Next time I’ll include the final two principles, beauty and joy.
My gratitude this time goes to Zalphia Wilson-Hill, a member of Woodstown Meeting, for recording the minutes of the Friends School board so that I might have more time to pack. By the September issue we should be settled and look forward to visits from all of you. Please join us on June 13 for Quarterly Meeting at Mickleton, where we are preparing for our 200th Anniversary.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
