I’ve been thinking a bit more about the whole living simply again.

Another pretty obvious one that kind of ties in to the first key to living the simple life today but I thought I would share it anyway.

This one is “be willing to share anything you own”. Get into the habit of lending people stuff. And then don’t ask for it back. Whatever it is really. Books, DVDs, money, your car, your shoes… get into the habit of letting people use your stuff. As I said, it’s not really your stuff anyway. So if someone is in need let them use your provision for that need.

The not asking for it back isn’t a hard and fast rule – just a suggestion really – obviously if you need it back, like if you’re not very tall and you lend someone a ladder you may need it back to get something out of the fridge… but anyway – lend people stuff and don’t worry if you don’t get it back.

It all comes down to the stuff not really being ours. Sian has been reading Acts just lately and has been excited about the early church sharing stuff. There are parts in Acts where it says some early church members sold everything they had and lived off a common purse but I don’t think the bible suggests this as a hard and fast rule for Christian living. The idea of it though, and indeed the thing that I think excited Sian, was the idea that everything we have (and indeed everything we can do) should be available to our family, our community.

I’ve probably not explained this too well but I’m kind of hoping Sian might comment on it!