Christianity & minimalism (minimal, pt. 1)
dear friend,
Over the course of 2018-2019, there was a surge in the decluttering, minimalistic, KonMari method through, not only many YouTube lifestyle influencers, but also through a show called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. The show revolves around regular people like you and I that just have too much stuff. Essentially, Marie goes into a house and implements her tried-and-true KonMari method of decluttering, organizing, and getting rid of unnecessary unused things so that people that have been caught up in consumerism for the sake of consuming can gain a grip on life, starting with the inside of their homes.
Now, I’ve only watched a few episodes with my mom and sister when it first was released on Netflix, but honestly, it was probably the most wholesome thing I’ve seen in a long time! Plus, an added bonus was being inspired to try out the KonMari method for myself, implementing it into my own life to declutter (although, if I’m being honest, I’ve ALWAYS been a major advocate for seasonally getting rid of unnecessary items that no longer “sparked joy” for me, whether that was clothing, mementos, or furniture) and let go of things for the sake of a clear space.
I know, I know. Minimalism, at first glance, sounds like some sort of hippy-ish thing where people live in super small spaces that are bare with muted tones and white furniture and walls, or others who can carry every single item they own in their backpack! However, those are just the *~extreme~* parts of the movement; at its core, minimalism is a lifestyle change, completely rejecting the fact that we NEED to reward ourselves by shopping and going into debt over things that, in the end, are completely and entirely useless to us, both in meaning and in value.
Now, as I just finished Marie’s first book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and, as of TODAY, completely and ENTIRELY decluttered my life in my VA home, I felt the need to write this post because with how much the fashion (ahem, fast fashion) industry and everyone everywhere is seemingly trying to sell us stuff, trying to convince us to indulge and buy and spend without having any limitations or boundaries for ourselves, I think, as Christians, we have a responsibility to reject that; to be more sustainable and ethical in our choices and decisions of what we choose to keep or hoard or throw/give away or sell. I hate to be “that person,” but legit, y’all, we can do better! Whatever this consumer-mindset society has made us buy into (no pun intended), it ain’t it.
I say that minimalism is beneficial for the Christian for many reasons. For one, stuff is all this stuff is: stuff (lol, try saying that three times fast!). Things that will degrade or be thrown away, will sit in closets or bags for months before we finally use them or get rid of them, only buying them because they’re SO inexpensive! — So cheap, that their value is quite low and basically worthless. As of writing this post, I’m just getting into minimalism; the last time I checked (which was before my latest complete decluttering phase), I only had 60 pieces of clothing items total, and I’ve more recently tried to regularly wear different things, so I can make sure each of the pieces I value so highly to keep are getting their money’s worth of being used.
And I know this is so odd to stick in here, but it’s totally relevant to the cause; I’m not saying the writer for VeggieTales was a minimalist or anything, but whoever wrote the script for the Madame Blueberry episode had such wisdom and was very on point. I just rewatched the episode (what can I say, I’m a live-in nanny — plus, who DOESN’T love a good ole’ episode of VeggieTales?) and there is SO much timeless advice in that episode that I didn’t quite understand when I was a kid!
((Uhh, warning, spoilers if you haven’t seen this episode of VeggieTales LOL??.))
Essentially, the story goes like this (sit tight, I loooove details!): Madame Blueberry is shown to be a very wealthy fruit. She lives in a treehouse high in the sky and has not one, but TWO butlers to wait on her for any of her wants or needs. She seems to have it all —except one thing: happiness. She’s genuinely unsatisfied with her life because she feels that the “better” stuff her neighbors have that she doesn’t are the only things that will make her truly happy.
One day, a mall is built right down the road from her house, and the associates who work there knock on her door and do a little song-and-dance number to convince her that the things she currently has just are not enough, and that if she buys from their Stuff Mart, she’ll finally get that happiness she’s been looking for! On the way there, and when she is there, she encounters two different families who are basically not as privileged as her, but are genuinely having a good time with happy smiles on their faces and true love in their hearts — even though they don’t have much stuff at all.
Eventually, Madame B. realizes her mistake and it gets through to her that money actually cannot buy happiness. By the time she has this revelation, however, her house is so packed full of stuff, that it all falls out into the river behind her home —and, eventually, her whole house springs off the tree and falls, crashing to the ground right in front of the Stuff Mart.
At the end of the episode, she and the other two underprivileged families that were shown earlier all have a picnic and she finally feels genuinely happy, because she discovers that joy lies in being thankful for what we DO have, spending time with others, and her relationship with God.
Wholesome, isn’t it?
I don’t know about y’all but I’ve definitely been a victim of consumerism. As Tiffany Ferguson said in her video about the rise of minimalism & decluttering,
“We’re told that shopping can be a form of self-care.”
In the video, she includes snippets from other videos about this overspending, under-caring (is that even a word?) phenomena that’s hit us, quite honestly, where it really hurts; our bank accounts. One such video is from a guy named Matt D’Avella, and he says,
“Not all advertising is bad, but a lot of it is driven to make us feel as if we deserve the indulgence. ‘You work so hard, you deserve this handbag, these sneakers, or this watch.’ ... The truth of the matter is, you deserve to be debt-free.”
Matt touches on some great points here, essentially discussing how saving money is much more beneficial to us in the long-run than spending just to “keep up with the Kardashians” in order to avoid feeling left out or not on trend. And this honestly goes for Christians and non-Christians alike, because we should all care about the privileges we’ve been given to live in a society where we can decide to conform or not to something so seemingly “essential.”
My last argument I’ll make here is that being a minimalist, having very few pieces that truly spark joy and that you’ll genuinely care about is not only amazing for your mental health and physical health (here’s an article dedicated to clutter and how you can improve your health and attitude through a process of decluttering by WebMD), BUT it also helps you to truly be set apart in your walk with Christ. Because once we let go of the possessions, people, and things of this world, and cling only to God alone as our strength and happiness, then we will truly be closer to Him in understanding what John writes when he says,
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
This verse tells us to throw off all the love we have for this world and the things in it, and to wholeheartedly pursue a life worth living — a life that is, essentially, a living sacrifice to Him who first sacrificed for His Father’s glory and for us.
Anyway friend, I hope this encouraged you to consider trying to declutter your space or even look into minimalism as a whole! Trust me when I say the benefits are SO worthwhile and worth the investment of your time and energy!
much love and more,
XO,
