Use What You Have
Advice I've taken from Myquillyn Smith, Author of House Rules
Use what you have.
This is part of the advice Myquillyn Smith gives in her book, House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget. I’ve loved making a home these 28 years of marriage, and my Instagram feed (and home) features spartan spaces with whitened walls and occasional houseplants. I did hang two pictures over my desk recently, which I bought at a local consignment store, and my best friend is going to be so proud of my increased appetite for risk.
(Photo credit: The amazing Sarah Dowlin, a local Cincinnati photographer.)
In those minimalist Instagram images that I can’t help loving, I recognize the aesthetic of the ideal and all its many temptations. Though there may be an occasional throw blanket tossed (perfectly) carelessly over the arm of a chair, there is rarely a shoe to be found, never mind a dirty plate, which is to say these spaces are a far cry from my own home when it was full of children. It’s a kind of design that is wonderful to admire and quite difficult to inhabit. You end up too fussy, too naggy, too hyper-conscious of blemishes. (Just ask my kids.)
To be clear, I’m not regularly reading home decorating books, and I also try avoiding too much time on Instagram and the interior design rabbit holes. This isn’t to say those things are bad necessarily, but it is to say that this is not a letter about interior design advice (which I would have no business giving). Still, when I heard Emily P. Freeman introduce her sister’s three house rules on a podcast episode, I wondered if there wasn’t wisdom here that might be applied to a rule of life.
Use what you have.
I had been stretching in the basement after my morning workout. Regular exercise is a part of my rule of life, which I first attempted to write in 2020 after years of reading about Benedictine spirituality and the ancient practice of a rule of life. On this particular day, I finished the podcast and despite being sweaty, I summarily started moving lamps. Use what you have, I had ringing in my ear. And I had lamps, none of which seemed to be exactly quite right. Basement lamps went to the office; bedroom lamps went to the basement. In twenty minutes, I wasn’t yet showered, but I had at least learned I didn’t need new lamps, only greater imagination for the old ones.
It makes me wonder if that’s the kind of imagination that’s required for living life wisely and well as followers of the Jesus Way[1]. What can be made with this one wild and precious life gifted to us by God? Using what you have means at least this much, that faithfulness to Jesus Christ begins here and now, in the God-given realities of your life. No trips to Target required.
For projects of both trivial and eternal importance (lamps and the kingdom), we can expect no more ideal conditions than today. Today was the operative word for the ancient Israelites, who were called to live out their belonging to Yahweh. As a timestamp in the Book of Deuteronomy, which features the nation standing on the banks of the Jordan River after 40 years of wilderness wandering, today is repeated 57 times in the English Standard Version. As Moses recounts the faithfulness of God to his people in the past, as he forecasts God’s faithfulness to his people in the future, today stands in for yesterday and tomorrow. It’s to reiterate that all time is present with God. It’s to say that neither regrets nor uncertainties should keep us from obeying him fully—and obedience to Jesus, beginning today, is at the very center of a rule of life.
“These words that I command you today shall be on your heart,” Moses says.[2] Hear them, he begs. Heed them, he implores. Risk your life on the blessing to be found in these words and let them bind you to God. The writer of Hebrews later picks up the Deuteronomy text and uses it for his own purposes, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”[3] If time is ever-present with God, faithfulness is always a matter for today.Today’s work. Today’s friendships. Today’s family responsibilities. Today’s stewardship of self. If you remember the image from last week’s letter, today’s faithfulness is everything lying within the walls of your given life.
Don’t worry about the next village over. Don’t think about next year’s crop. Tend the ground of today.
Using what you have moves us beyond inertia, even if there might yet be information we need, skills we lack, zeal we can’t yet muster. Encouragingly, the rule of using what you have assures that we can begin somewhere—and revise as we go: in a rule of life or a home renovation project.
After all, lamps can be moved.
P.S. This letter was reworked from some draft writing I’ve been doing for a rule of life book. Even in this letter, I used what I had. See that? A big looming task, reduced to an itty-bitty revision. Try it.
P.P.S. If you want to scavenge your favorite book off my shelf in the picture, put the title in the comments!
[1] One of my favorite Eugene Peterson books is titled, The Jesus Way.
[2] Deuteronomy 6:6.
[3] Hebrews 3:7, 8
Your picture by Sarah 😍 and I love that mantra from Smith and your take on it will have me thinking today
Thank you for this. 'Use what you have ' is both gentle and compassionate and a call to action.