278 - The Summer of Less
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This episode is all about my summer of less.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through below.
I feel like summer is such a great time to just pause and think about your work and play. Like, are we working well? Are we playing well? Obviously summer is a great time to play, but it requires a whole lot of work in a different way. This summer, I feel like the Lord has been working on my heart in a lot of different ways. Let's be honest, He's always working on me, but I feel like He's just asking me to let go of some things, get rid of some things, do things differently., and specifically in three areas. So I'm calling it my summer of less because I feel like He's calling me to less stuff, less things to do, and less of me. This episode, I'm just going to unpack those three things and pray that the Lord just encourages you in whatever way he wants to today as I just kind of share where I'm at in my approach to this summer and kind of what I'm working on in my heart and my life, in my house, in my work, and in my play.
So let's jump into less stuff, okay? Because this is a problem we all deal with is the clutter situation in our house and in just every area of our life. I feel like just recently, God's been showing me that my attachment to stuff that I can't let go of has a lot of spiritual roots to it. It is more about me working through some things about my own identity and working through my attachment to stuff and really calling him Lord and letting go of these idols or whatever security or safety these things make me feel in my life and working through them this summer.
The song, Make Space by the Helsers is such a beautiful song that I feel like kind of kicked everything off. I remember sitting on the porch in Beaufort, North Carolina, and the breeze was blowing, and I played this song and I just felt like God was saying, “It is really time to let go of some stuff.” I have been moving from closet to closet to closet to record this podcast. You've probably noticed. If you've been listening to every episode, you probably notice some sound changes and differences. I finally landed in a new space which is the old Nancy Ray Photography studio, which is where I'm recording this podcast today. I would say like 98% of my podcast episodes up until this point have been recorded in some kids' closet. Very not glamorous, but it's just the best sound quality with what I could do.
So anyway, when I was moving this podcast once again recently out of the baby's room and into the boys’ room closet, I had to pull out all of my old Nancy Ray Photography stuff out of that closet. I dragged it all out into the hallway. Listen, I've already purged a lot of it. It's already been gone through many, many times over. Yet there are some cameras and lenses and bags and folders and magazines and memories that I don't want to let go of. I don't want to. I love those things. I love what they represented in my life. I just feel like so much of my identity was wrapped up in Nancy Ray Photography for so long that it's really hard for me to just sell a camera that really has meant a lot to me.
So anyway, I dragged all that stuff out into the hallway and it's been sitting there for weeks. I don't know what to do with it. I'm very paralyzed about that situation. So back to my Beaufort story. I was sitting on the porch in Beaufort, North Carolina, which is like a little coastal town andthis song was playing, “Make Space”, I just felt the Lord say “This summer is the time for you to deal with the stuff, the hard stuff. It's time to deal with it. It's time to make decisions and it's time to let some of that stuff go.”
So that is where I am. I love some of the lyrics to that song. You should listen to it, especially if you're trying to clean out something. It like pumps you up in your spirit to go after whatever you need to clean out. But it says there is space for you. “Hello, clarity. Hello, wisdom. Come and take up residence. Jesus, Jesus, welcome in.” That's the purpose of making space in your life is just making space for the Lord to move. We clear out stuff, even physical stuff, so that we can make space for Him to do what He wants to do.
I'm a big believer that the stuff… What is that saying? “A cluttered desk is like a cluttered mind” or something like that. For me, it's true. I think some people can operate with more clutter than others, but it stresses me out. So you can imagine just the stuff. Then I also remember this conversation with my friend, Rebecca, who has five kids. This is before I had my fifth and I was like, “How's it going? Like your new baby and everything.” She was like, “Honestly, it's great other than just the stuff.” I was like, “What do you mean?” She said “Just the amount of stuff in a house when you have five children.” That rings so true for me too. Not only is there this stuff I'm having to deal with my past. It's maintenance, clothes, kids, toys. There's always stuff and there's always an influx of stuff.
So I'm going to be digging deep this summer in my heart, in my mind, in my actions and cleaning out stuff. I am ready to clear some stuff. I am not under the illusion that it's going to stay that way. I understand what I'm up against raising five children. There's always going to be an influx of stuff and it's my part-time job as a mother to declutter my house. But this is the summer of less stuff and I'm declaring it and I am just going Stormin’ Norman on my stuff. My friend Stacey always says she gets in her Stormin’ Norman mode when she's like, “It's time to clean out the house” and she just goes crazy. This is me. Look out summer for Stormin’ Norman. Here we go.
I'm on a mission to make space in my home with less stuff, but I'm also really wanting this to be a summer of less to do. This is a simple reflection of my calendar. Last summer, I was pregnant. I signed my kids up for a total of four camps. There was boy camp, princess camp, New Life Camp, horse camp, plus a July 4th trip plus a trip to Nashville. It was just like, whoa, whoa. I was so exhausted by the end of summer. I looked at Will and I said, “I am never doing that again. That was so much.” So this summer, we have landed on one camp for the kids and they all go the same week.
I was really hoping to, if I'm honest with you, I was hoping to travel less than we actually are this summer. That's okay. We are prioritizing a trip to the beach next week, which I'm grateful for our family home in Beaufort that we can go to and enjoy. So we're going to take advantage of that and go there. But then we were blessed with this amazing trip to Dollywood right on the heels of that over July 4th. So we're going to Dollywood and then we're going back to Nashville at the end of the summer and we do have that New Life Camp Week.
So, okay, I know, I know you hear me saying less to do on my calendar and I'm telling you all these things that we have to do. But let me just say, compared to last summer, it is less to do. I am routinely saying “no” to things that pop up. “No” to opportunities that pop up. Even this week, I've had two people in my life suggest different camps, VBSs, whatever we can join and I wanted to say “yes” right at first and then I just said, “no.”
So far, I just feel like I can breathe because I know exactly the trips that we're taking and even though they're a little more than what I would prefer, I know that it's important to my family to go. So we're going and I am really glad about that. But all the time in between, I'm just trying to say “no” to everything other than going to the pool with friends and letting my kids play in our driveway and in the yard. Like I just am totally fine with reading books and lounging around and just doing nothing. I'm quite excited about my summer of less to do.
Now the third thing I want to share is less of me. Even if by the end of the summer, my house is still full of clutter, or it's not where I want it to be. Even if by the end of the summer, the schedule still was crazy and full, my prayer is that by the end of the summer, I would still be able to say there was less of me and more of the Lord in my life, in my family's life, in my marriage. I'm so encouraged by the scripture John 3.30. John the Baptist said this. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I'm so encouraged by that because there's a lot that I want to do this summer in just simplifying my life and my schedule and slowing down and enjoying summertime and getting rid of stuff and living in this clutter-free house. All of this sounds so amazing. But the real less that I'm after is less of me.
It doesn't mean I disappear or I'm a doormat or I have no boundaries. I'm not like silencing myself or quitting everything that I want to do and decreasing like that. I don't think that's the heart of God at all. I think it simply means that I'm thinking of the Lord more. He doesn't say like “I must be deleted.” He just says “I must decrease”, right? He must increase so that looks like practicing His presence and welcoming Him into every decision, partnering with Him in everything that I do; bringing my dreams, my work, anything that I'm creating or doing, discipling with my kids, my family, I want to do it with Him. I want to do everything with Him.
It reminds me of that quote By C.S. Lewis that says, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less” and that's my real prayer this summer. As I say the summer of less, I want to accept any pruning that the Lord has for me in the stuff in my life, in my calendar and in my schedule, but in me spiritually, in my heart, in my character, and decrease and let Him increase in every area of my life.
So I'm asking myself, like, what does that look like in my marriage? What does it look like for the Lord to increase in our family? In our family dinners? In our summer mornings? What does it look like for the Lord to increase here at this podcast? What does it look like for the Lord to increase in my friendships? What does it look like for the Lord to increase at church and in whatever ministry I'm involved in? So I'm excited. I'm excited for less. I think that pruning and letting go always means more fruit from the Lord and I just really pray that I'll do it. You can pray for me and I'll be praying for you. If that is a prayer of yours to let go of something hard or to decrease so He can increase, I'll pray for you in that too.
And that is my summer of less. Less stuff, less to do, and less of me.
Okay, it's time for the Work and Play Cornerstore. Actually, before I get to that, can I just say, there's just some fun things happening with the podcast. I just wanted to let you in on it. First of all, I'm having fun bringing the Cornerstore back. Second of all, I have a new way for you to leave voice messages for me so that I can hear from you. If you're listening to me right now, you can come and leave me a voice message and I can listen to it and incorporate it on my podcast. I'll get to that a little bit more in a second.
But third, I wanted to tell you there is something very exciting happening with the podcast in July. This is the last episode in June and next month is July. Now usually, I take all of July off and I've even said I was going to take all of July off this summer. But this really fun thing is happening specifically with the podcast and there's no way I can take all of July off. Now I have to share it with you. So you can expect two really fun episodes in July. Don't miss them. Come back for them. Then I might just start the podcast back a little bit later in August to give myself that break. This is just, it's too good. It's too good. It's like I've peaked. I've peaked. My podcast has peaked. Okay, that is like the biggest, I don't know, teaser that I could give you, but you just have to come back because I'm literally not allowed to tell you yet.
Alright, so anyway, let me share the Cornerstore and then I'm going to share one more thing with you about that fun recording thing that you can do for a really fun episode I have coming up. For the Cornerstore. I am going to just share the book, Mere Christianity because that's where the quote came from by C.S. Lewis that I used in today's episode. If you've never read Mere Christianity and you're a Christian, immediately add to cart because it is just one of the greatest works of literature in Christianity. It's amazing. I mean, C.S. Lewis, we love him, right? But if you haven't read it, you need to read it. If you haven't read it in the last five years, you should probably reread it.
Ok, next. I looked high and low for great food storage containers. I know that sounds so weird, but I wanted some glass ones that I could pop into the oven and heat up. I found some that are square and stackable and really great. They don't have those like clicky sides. You know what I'm talking about? They're kind of like wings and they snap down onto them. Those feel tricky to clean and kind of annoying to me. So I found some that are airtight, but you just press them down and seal them. I'm going to link them in the shownotes. You can also find them at nancyray.com/cornerstore. That always takes you directly to my Amazon affiliate store, but I have loved these. I love that they're glass. You can see what's inside them. They stack great in the fridge and in my little food storage drawer that we keep stuff in. It's great.
Okay, in the shownotes, you are going to see a link that says “Leave Nancy a Voice Message!” You can click on that link and it's going to take you to a little website called SpeakPipe. I think that's the software. You just hit record and you can leave me a message and then it'll send me an email saying “You got a message.” I want to do an episode where you guys ask all the questions. I want to do like an FAQ episode. It's been a long time since I've done one. I feel like it'd be really fun. So you can leave up to like five different questions if you want or you can just leave one. I'm just game to try this and I want to do this episode sometime in August. So just take the month of July or maybe just right after you finish listening to this episode, go over and click on the shownotes and click the link to leave me a voice message and do it. Nobody else is going to hear it. I don't even think I'm going to put your voice on the podcast because I can't really figure out how to do that yet. So literally it'll just be me hearing it, but I would just love to hear from you. I really would love to hear from you. Ask me anything. Any question that you have, I'm here for it.
Okay, so fun things coming up in July. Look out, leave me a voice message, head to the Cornerstore if you want, and thanks so much for listening to episode 278 of Work and Play with Nancy Ray. Everything I've mentioned today can be found in the show notes over at nancyray.com/podcast/278. You can find me at nancyray.com or follow me at @nancyray on Instagram.
I am going to close with that quote once again by C.S. Lewis because it is so good.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
Here is to the summer of less. Catch you next time!
