I am grateful for emails back and forth with Erin and Geri. I feel like I’ve won the lottery.

I am grateful that I have learned to live with less and I am not dependent on a credit card; two more good things that have come from the past three years.

I am grateful for cream cheese frosting.

I am grateful for this wisdom that was shared with me yesterday in a Skype message: “What is it about God’s plan we don’t understand?  Sometimes, we have to just let Him take us.”

I am grateful for window cleaners – watching these guys on the side of the building this morning when I walked in to work made me appreciate the fact that my feet were on solid ground, rather than hanging from a rope six stories up.

I am grateful that I don’t watch the shows that I used to be so addicted to – The Bachelor, Big Brother, Real Housewives, Project Runway, etc. Last night, we were able to enjoy watching the end of the Spurs game while we chopped and diced, and it’s so nice to not be tied to programming any longer, besides keeping the garbage out of my mind.

I am grateful for time in the kitchen last night, making a meal for my co-worker with Sam. It went twice as fast with someone else chopping and mixing and stirring…besides, it was nice to have someone to talk to while we worked.

I am grateful for Mom’s/Grandma Johnson’s recipe for pan cinnamon rolls.

I am grateful for the anticipation I feel waiting on the birds to finally discover the feeders outside. Still waiting…

I am grateful for time spent at dinner with Danny and Jan last night.

I am grateful for memories of video scavenger hunts with Karissa and Katrina and their friends while I work on creating a cell phone camera scavenger hunt for tomorrow night. I hope that Katrina has that video of her group building a pyramid or talking to the Braum’s employee in the drive-thru or of her swallowing a goldfish…

I am grateful for paper napkins.

I am grateful for sleep.

I think I could actually take a trip and have just one spare change of clothes. My obstacle at this point in life is my hair. Or my inability to do anything different with it. I seem to need “stuff” to make it look decent. I am attempting to grow it out so that I could just put it up in a ponytail – however, I think the easier solution would be to go all out “Angela” and cut it off. I see my sister and get so jealous of how good she looks and how simple her hairstyle is. Wow. I squirreled on that topic. What I was getting at was the fact that I really liked this devotion about de-cluttering and living with less. My challenge for the winter is to fill 40 bags to give away, just like the idea above. Take that idea along with Jen Hatmaker’s “7” book and her life-changing reductions, and maybe by spring, I’ll be able to ditch the hair dryer and straightener. MAYBE.

With airlines charging us extra fees if we want to take our suitcase with us on vacation, more people are learning to take less. Even on overseas trips, many seasoned travelers pack little more than a change of clothes and a toothbrush. Garments can be washed out in a sink at night, and other supplies can be picked up as needed. Traveling with a half-empty backpack is a liberating adventure.

The same is true of life. The more we acquire, the more we have to tend. Everything requires attention and maintenance. Costs increase. An escalating lifestyle brings accelerating pressure. Pretty soon our possessions possess us.

Rather than being upwardly mobile, why not deliberately downsize? Constantly be de-cluttering. Pour your money into eternal investments and live simply.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon admitted that he found little lasting satisfaction in his houses, vineyards, orchards, servants, herds, tools, toys, and treasures. (2:4-11) Real joy was found in the simplest acts of eating, drinking, working hard, and laboring for the Lord (2:24).

For a better trip, throw a Bible in your backpack and travel light.