The lesson, of course, is to stay in the present but welcome change.~Joan Anderson(From An Unfinished Marriage)

I spied the book on the library shelf, Longing For Less. I flipped through the pages, a treatise on minimalism. The title alone whispered direction. For all my working life, I'd stuffed pens and diaries and framed pictures and clothing and jewelry in drawers. "When I have more time, I'll get organized." Boxes of purses and shoes and sweaters filled my closets. And then the books...

Heaps of books brimmed over the shelves in my study. I'd read all of them at one time or another. I knew I wouldn't read them again. Life was changing. I could feel the shift. My husband and I were planning on downsizing. I couldn't take all this stuff with me. I didn't really want to anyway.

But there were other longngs in me too. I didn't want to purge myself of everything. I wanted the objects I kept to reflect beauty. To be symbolic for me. Months ago, I'd ordered a photograph by an artist who had digitally enhanced a picture of the statue of David. I'd always related to his story--as a writer and poet, redeemd sinner, warrior, beloved of God. David was intimately acquainted with God through writing and worship, through poetry and music, through his warrior spirit. And his writing supports me now in my intimacy with God as I read the psalms he penned. 

This morning I read a portion of Psalm 145(The Passion Translation), King David's poetic song as he stood before Goliath:

There is only one strong, safe, and secure place for me; it's in God alone and I love him.

He's the one who gives me strength and skill for the battle. 

He's my shelter of love and my fortress of faith, who wraps himself around me as a secure shield. 

I hide myself in this one who subdues enemies before me...

I remember seeing the statue of David when my husband and I visited his country in Italy and traveled to Florence. When I gazed at the famous statue, I thought, "He's so vulnerable there in the nude, yet simultaneously so strong, his exquisite body, his confident expression." Perhaps this art embodies my longing for less. When I strip down the excess, I discover the beauty I long for as well.