Simple Inclines

My Call to Arms is not a summons to undertake a particular course of action defined by someone else, but the realization that every breath is shaping me.

In the rivulose journey of these past five years, I remember a personal passageway revealed, a path through a dense forest at night, sure footing often absent in the agitated shadows cast by tree branches above me, steps quietly revealed in moonlight and patience. As I gaze into the next year and beyond, the path of my time here on earth becomes something more. I step out of a wooded valley, a place of searching. The simple inclines challenge me. Blackness behind me, I am toddling into the light.

My Manifesto—

I want to live on less
an older car
a small wardrobe
simpler meals
gardening
conserving
recycling
repurposing

I want to give more
groceries for neighbors who sometimes go hungry
transportation for companions who do not own cars

sharing abundance
living on less

I will say no
to lukewarm opportunities
to pointless tasks
to being a bully

I will say yes
to exploring my faith
to hearing the heartbreak of strangers
to nurturing my husband, my family, my friends
to respecting myself

I will say no
to hiding my heart
behind mammoth stone walls
with guillotine-gates

I will say yes
to harboring my heart
within sturdy fences
and locked gates
on well-oiled hinges
keys in my hand

I will build up, encourage and celebrate a noble humanity

I will refuse to wield any book as a weapon of mass destruction

I will affirm what Christ affirms, accept my Creator's lavish love

I will live a life worthy




Call to Arms by Sasha Dichter
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair. You’re just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go! (bonus: send it to the CEO with the title “The things we absolutely have to get right – nothing else matters.”) SD