Sound Off
A month of silence in a world of noise; the survival story of a music addict.
I lived 30 days with no music. I am a survivor. This is my story.
I listen to a lot of music. Thousands of hours of music. I turn it on when I drive, walk, and sit. I have it playing in the background when I work. Some might say, I am addicted to music, or rather, I am addicted to noise. A month ago I would have disagreed. Now I’m not so sure.
For the past month, I lived with no music, while keeping a very accurate and scientific log of my responses.
The results may shock you.
“Tell Simon & Garfunkel I found the Sound of Silence, and I don’t like it.”
Day 1: This isn’t so bad. A month isn’t even that long.
Day 3: I only have 10 minutes to work but I still wish I could listen to music on the way. Does this mean I am addicted to noise?
Day 5: I just thought of a song I was recently introduced to and I really want to listen to it. Annoyed that I can’t.
Day 7: I’m going to finish my audiobook instead of listening to music. Making healthy choices.
Day 8: Not listening to music is kind of annoying but it’s still not super hard.
Day 12: This road trip is really long without music.
Day 12.5: Wait, it's only day 12?? Oh boy.
Day 13: Ok the silence on my drive to work is actually kind of nice.
Day 17: Just kidding. It’s getting harder, will it get easier at some point?
Day 19: Maybe starting to feel the withdrawal??
Day 21: I am CRAVING music. Every time I get in my car I want to play something. I find myself talking to myself and making random noises. I think the silence is getting to me.
Day 23: I’m tired of not listening to music. I try singing to make up for it, but it’s a sad substitute. A song is stuck in my head and I really wish I could play something else to get it out.
Day 25: Need music, please. Maybe dying. Send help.
Day 27: This was one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had. I will probably never do this again. I regret all my decisions. All I want is to turn the music up so loud I can feel it in my brain.
Day 30: This was so much harder than I thought it would be. I’m glad it’s over. Tell Simon & Garfunkel I found the Sound of Silence, and I don’t like it.
“Sometimes silence is what you need to talk to and hear God.”
Overall, this month of no music was good for me. I had time to listen to audiobooks I’ve been pushing off, I had more time to be alone with my thoughts and with God, but most importantly, I found that it is possible to live without constant noise. Silence isn’t a bad thing. And sometimes it’s what you need to talk to and hear God.
This month was harder than anticipated. I came face to face with the fact that I am a product of my generation and am almost certainly addicted to noise. How would a month of no music affect your life? Try it for yourself and find out!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
It’s One Thing
Sometimes things appear one way, but are completely different altogether. Read before living.
It’s one thing to love someone. It’s another to sacrifice for those you love.
It’s one thing to trust God. It’s another to surrender your desires.
It’s one thing to give. It’s another to give when you have little.
It’s one thing to know about God. It’s another to know God.
It’s one thing to be selfless. It’s another to be selfless when no one is watching.
It’s one thing to be dependent on God for big things. It’s another to be dependent on God for daily bread.
It’s one thing to stop working. It’s another to truly rest.
It’s one thing to be excited about the future God has in store. It’s another to be excited about life in the mundane present.
“Sometimes things appear one way, but are completely different altogether. ”
Sometimes things appear one way, but are completely different altogether.
We think we love well, but then, it’s easy to love. We say we trust God, but trust is an easy word to say. We give to those in need, because God has blessed us abundantly. We study the Bible and say we know God, but then, even an atheist can know facts about God. It’s easy to be selfless, especially when people are always watching the way we live. We know dependence on God is a necessity, how else would we live successful lives? We stop working on our sabbath, and call it restful. We are excited for the future, and call it trusting in God's plan.
“Underneath the good things we say and the good ways we live, there is a whisper of something better.
A promise of a fuller life.”
Underneath the good things we say and the good ways we live, there is a whisper of something better. A promise of a fuller life.
It is better to sacrifice in love, surrender your will, and give when you have little.
It is richer to know God as a friend knows a friend and as a child knows a father.
There is eternal reward in being selfless even in unseen places.
There are miracles awaiting those who depend on God for daily bread.
True rest and relief from our burdens is found in communion with Jesus.
We can live in blessed contentment when we see the Present, “the point at which time touches eternity,” as the gift God meant it to be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
Wedding Programs
Essential Dos and Don'ts for Every Bride
Essential Dos and Don’ts for Every Bride
Wedding Programs seem like a minor detail in your wedding, and maybe they are. But a wedding program done well adds a bit of beauty to your special day. Of course, a program done badly does the opposite and distracts unnecessarily. Here are a few things to know about wedding programs before you place your order with us!
Less is more
You’ve heard it before, but it’s true. Wedding programs can quickly be cluttered with lots of information and lots of names. With an information packed program, your guests may be overwhelmed with one glance, or spend the rest of the ceremony distracted, reading every detail of the program. We don’t need to know that your water server is a cousin of the groom. The question could be asked, do we need to know who your water server is? Think about the information that is important to you, and consider cutting some information that may be unnecessarily cluttering up your program.
“Programs are chiefly to share the order of the ceremony, and give recognition to people who play a valuable part in your wedding”
Also remember, as much as it may hurt, these programs will most likely be discarded after the ceremony. If you want to share something meaningful with your guests, consider displaying it somewhere besides your wedding program. Programs are chiefly to share the order of the ceremony, and give recognition to people who play a valuable part in your wedding, and may not be the ideal place to give your special thanks or remember a loved one who has passed away.
2. CHOOSE AN AESTHETIC
Having the fonts and colors of your wedding invitation, program, and other stationary match is a win. While your guests will most likely not be comparing your stationary side by side, your wedding invitation sets the tone of your wedding day, since it’s often the first interaction your guests will have with your wedding.
“Disjointed stationary will distract unnecessarily from your day.”
Go for continuity in design and colors. Again, it may seem like a minor detail, but disjointed stationary will distract unnecessarily from your day. Consider using a wedding invitation and program set from our library of templates! You can choose from several options like the Matte Charcoal set, Basic Minimalist set, Green Sprig set, and more!
3. Type your details
This one is directly from our lovely designers at the Simple Design Co. Wedding programs usually have a lot of text on them, and we absolutely love it when you send all of that text either typed out in an email, or in a separate document. Trust us, the design process will be 100% smoother and faster if you do this instead of sending your information as a picture.
“We absolutely love it when you send all of that text either typed out in an email, or in a separate document.”
We love to see your happy wedding scribbles in a notebook, but unfortunately, that is not so good for adding text to your wedding program. And more importantly, sending all your information already typed minimizes typos and other errors! Do yourself a favor, and type it out.
Brides, we love doing your wedding stationary, and it’s always an honor to be a small part of your wedding day! Thank you for trusting us with the details!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
15 Rules You Can't Argue With
15 Irrefutable Truths from somebody who has seen it all.
Occasionally a person reaches a point in life where they feel like they’ve learned a lot about living and had enough experiences to know a few things.
That usually comes before a massive crisis where they realize they know nothing about anything and in fact, their knowledge of life only makes them realize how little they know.
I recently turned 21 and am feeling that young, brazen confidence that I know all there is to know about life and love.
I’ve concluded that I should take advantage of this knowledge as I sit on the cusp of a crisis. Therefore, I’ve written down everything I’ve learned about life before the inevitable crash comes. Here is my complete and exhaustive list of things to do to lead a successful life on Planet Earth.
“I’ve written down everything I’ve learned about life. Here is my complete and exhaustive list of things to do to lead a successful life on Planet Earth.”
Water is life. Drink it. Jump in it. Float on it.
2. Carrying a water bottle with you everywhere you go is a sign of maturity. Do it and don’t freeload off of others’ water bottles.
3. Exercise. That’s it.
4. Don’t let your mind wander too long in what could be.
5. Pick up a book instead of picking up your phone.
6. Don’t listen to the same song too many times.
7. Sleep is good, but don’t let it get in the way of other good things.
8. The only way to get a difficult thing off your to do list is to do it.
9. Naps ruin lives. Sleep at night, not in the middle of the day.
10. A shower and a clean face make a lot of problems shrink to their actual size.
11. Watch out for sodium.
12. Being late is a habit, not a lifestyle. You can change a habit. Don’t make people wait on you.
13. Hurry is a joy killer. Slow your life down so that you can drive slow and still be punctual.
14. There is no point in arguing about what tastes good. Don’t argue about food.
15. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
God’s Beauty in the Big City
I’ve been living in the largest city in the U.S. for 7 months. Here's what I've learned about God's beauty.
“Don’t you get tired of all the concrete?” “I would miss the trees!” “Don’t you want to get out in God’s nature and away from the city?”
I’ve been living in Queens, New York City for 7 months and people love to ask me questions like this. Maybe partly because I moved from a community in Pennsylvania (literally meaning Penn’s Woods) where trees are everywhere and towns are tiny and sparse. It seems like moving from that to the largest city in the United States should be quite an adjustment.
But I’ve found that God’s beauty and creativity is displayed everywhere on the earth, not just in nature. Over and over, I’ve seen God’s handiwork, even when I’m walking over miles of concrete.
“ God is all around me, everywhere I look.”
A father at a park sweetly sings a Spanish song to his daughters in the stroller. He pushes it carefully to avoid the bumps in the path.
There’s a magnolia tree on 51st that I’ve watched grow from buds to beautiful flowers over the course of several weeks. Its massive branches hang over the sidewalk and create a canopy of pink, sweet smelling shade.
A woman walking on my street smiled at me when I looked her in the eye and stopped to ask me how my day was going. Her face was bright with joy.
A beautiful gray cat lets me touch its soft nose.
An MTA employee cheerfully sweeps up trash on the subway car. He stops to joke with the kids on the train and makes them laugh. He leaves with a smile on his face.
The old ladies at the temple only spoke Tibetan, but they insisted I take some crackers from their table of snacks.
A police officer stands outside the elementary school directing kids and parents into the school. She welcomes the kids by name.
My neighbor is always smiling. He sells flowers and beautiful growing things at a little store on the corner.
As I sit at a large window, I watch a group of highschool students leave school at the end of the day, laughing, and sharing a pack of fruit snacks.
A teenage boy goes out of his way to open two doors for an elderly lady.
A small bush bloomed in the cold of February and kept blooming even after it snowed.
God is all around me, everywhere I look. There is beauty here in this place, and it makes me dream of a City that is yet to come;
The Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shines with the glory of God. The glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The glory and honor of the nations are brought into it and nothing impure will ever enter it.
Revelation 21
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
The Bible in One Week
How reading the Bible in one week changed my life.
Recently I, along with five close friends of mine, successfully read through the entire Bible chronologically in 6 days.
It was an incredible, even, dare I say, life changing experience. I don’t know if I can impart to you exactly what an impact it had on me. So I will only try my best to convince you to do it for yourself.
“It was an incredible, even, dare I say, life changing experience”
We are far from the first to do this, but we loosely followed a plan by Shawn Hochstetler. He first did it in 2020 after being inspired by a group of Christians from a closed country who were risking their lives to read the Bible. When they finally had the chance to read God’s word, they refused to stop and read day and night until they made it to the last page.
We didn’t read day and night, but we did read for 10 to 12 hours every day with 4 short breaks throughout the day.
We read from a chronological New Living Translation Bible for easy comprehension and to read the events of the Bible in the order they happened, with the prophetic books, Psalms, and Proverbs interwoven with historical accounts and the book of Acts integrated into Paul's letters to the churches. Reading the Bible chronologically in such a short span of time gives a unique perspective to the Bible that I have never seen before.
Now when Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said,” and when Matthew or Luke or Paul mention prophecies fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, I know exactly what they're referring to and the context of the original law or prophecy. Of course, I’ve always had a general knowledge of the Bible, but I’ve never understood it like I do now.
“I’ve always had a general knowledge of the Bible, but I’ve never understood it like I do now. ”
Knowing the Bible as one story with huge overarching themes and the same God over it all, as opposed to reading it as a collection of different books and stories and time periods, has strengthened my faith, given me an increased awareness of God’s sovereignty, and made the entire Bible come alive to me like it never has before.
At the same time, it's made me realize how little I know about the Bible. I don’t often choose to read from Leviticus or Jeremiah for my personal devotions, I would much rather read from Matthew or Romans, which means I often neglect parts of the Bible that I don’t find interesting or helpful to me.
“I had been missing huge parts of God’s story and character.”
In doing so, I have been missing huge parts of God’s story and character. Now I know the Old Testament is rich and no part of the Holy Word of God should be neglected or held up as more important.
Because the Bible works together beautifully as a unit, and I never would have picked up the bigger story by spending all my time in the New Testament or the books I enjoy reading. Furthermore, should we as Christians not be experts in the Bible? And how could I ever be an expert in the Bible if I didn’t study the whole thing?
I encourage you, no matter what part of the Christian journey you are on, to take a week out of your life and read the Bible. It’s a big commitment and takes a lot of work and we all have responsibilities, but as Ann Voscamp encourages, “Do hard and Holy things.”
Besides, is anything too hard when God is involved? And is any sacrifice too great when Jesus is the heartbeat of our lives?
“Is anything too hard when God is involved? And is any sacrifice too great when Jesus is the heartbeat of our lives?”
You can find more information on reading the Bible in a week here: Bible Week (notion.site)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
House Keys in Holy Hands
We cannot share the gospel with people who could lose everything because of it, and not be willing to give everything in return.
Several months ago I read The Gospel Comes With a House Key by Rosaria Butterfeild. While most of what she wrote about has, more or less, gone in one ear and out the other, one thing stays firmly planted in my brain.
“Welcoming people into our homes and offering them a place at the table, a house key, and a warm environment is an integral part of the Gospel”
If you haven’t read it, The Gospel Comes With a House Key is about how life changing ordinary hospitality can be for unbelievers. Butterfeild shares her own story of how she came to know God through a family who invited her into their home over and over to share food, a safe space, and conversations that always came around to Jesus.
She believes welcoming people into our homes and offering them a place at the table, a house key, and a warm environment is an integral part of the gospel. She lives it out and sees over and over how neighbors and strangers become friends and are brought into the family of God over the dinner table.
“If you want to share the gospel with… anyone who will lose family and homes, the gospel must come with a house key.”
In the middle of her book, Butterfield writes something, almost in passing, but after I read it, I had to sit and think for a while. She brings out Mark 10:28-31 where Jesus talks about leaving our houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, and land for His sake, and she writes, “If you want to share the gospel with… anyone who will lose family and homes, the gospel must come with a house key.”
She emphasizes offering a house key to those who will lose their own. We cannot simply go out on the streets, proclaiming the gospel and calling Muslims, Jews, people from the LGBTQ community, or anyone else who has everything to lose, to repentance. We must follow it up by giving them what they may have to sacrifice to accept the gospel.
They need to know who will take them in when their families and communities reject them. Furthermore, Jesus commands us to love, not just our friends, but also strangers, foreigners, and enemies. That includes refugees, orphans, the homeless, and the impoverished. What better way to be the hands and feet of Jesus, than to offer a home to those who don’t have one.
Sometimes it’s easier to preach and teach and share the gospel with someone and call it a day. But what should come after that is an invitation into a community who will take them in and be their family in Christ when they sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.
“They need to know where home is.”
“We cannot share the gospel with people who could lose everything because of it, and not be willing to give everything in return.”
The gospel demands sacrifice from us. Some more than others. We cannot share the gospel with people who could lose everything because of it, and not be willing to give everything in return. When we accept this reality, the gospel and hospitality cannot be separated.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
Should My Wedding Invitations be Trendy or Timeless?
Do I care if my wedding looks outdated when I show the pictures to my kids?
It’s the question that brides have struggled with for decades… do I care if my wedding looks outdated when I show the pictures to my kids?
Consider the difference between a classic car and an minivan from the same era… one still looks great, looking back. The other, not so much.
“do I care if my wedding looks outdated when I show the pictures to my kids?”
We spend a lot of time thinking about what is timeless, and what isn’t. Here is our current conclusion on it:
Timeless and trendy are a bit subjective. Unfortunately, hindsight is the only true indicator if a design makes it from trendy to timeless.
This one is definitely a timeless design. Nothing stands out as over-the-top. Nothing is trying to prove a point. It’s just clean simple text, spaced and designed with elegance.
This arched design has a much more trendy feel. There is plenty of white space to give it a minimal feel, but the arches hint at a fun and interesting wedding.
This invitation mixes traditional and modern with its black and white simplicity. The spacing of the lines and the horizontal blocks give it just a taste of being trendy.
The black border on this design immediately give a “classic” feel. A black border is not enough to guarantee the classic look however. This style of photo, whether there is some action in the shot or the more sepia tone, can make all the difference.
This black on black and white suit combines classic and minimal and modern. The simplicity and open space makes it feel a bit more timeless, but the black on black with a bit of white feels very modern.
WOTY. Word of the Year
Why you should have a word of the year, and how we are making it easy.
I’m borderline ADD by nature (maybe not just borderline), which means my instinct is to make a lot more New Year’s resolutions than I can reasonably keep.
A great alternative/addition to the New Year’s resolution is a word of the year. This is my third year taking it seriously, and it has made a real difference.
This year’s word for me is Focus, which is a constant struggle for me but I felt it rising as a word I would like to orient my life around. Maybe for you its something completely different! I’ve chosen Generosity and Discipline the last two years, and each time the word represented something that I felt the need to work on.
I take choosing my WOTY pretty seriously, and I try to have it pretty well nailed down several months in advance. It usually feels like something the Holy Spirit is nudging me towards, and if it’s right, it just “clicks”.
Our preferred method to keep our WOTY from being forgotten, is to display them on the wall in our bedroom. I don’t notice it every day, but it’s not at all unusual for me to notice my word just before we turn out the light. Seeing it causes me to think about it and my current progress with it as I’m falling asleep.
I can’t recommend enough having your word somewhere that reminds you daily or at least regularly, and let it guide your year!
At the risk of making this post seem like a sales pitch, here is a plug for our customizable word of the year prints.
We believe in the power of the WOTY, so we created a product to make it easier to display your word of the year in an attractive way, similar to how we have for the past three years.
We take your word and the definition you choose, and either send you a physical copy or a digital file for you to print at home. CLICK THE LINK BELOW
We hope that your life can be better in the same way that ours has been!
5 Books That Changed My Life + A Few Bonus Books
5 Books that could change your life, plus a few fun ones.
I have found that one of the most effective ways to substantively change your life is to read a book. I only read about a book a month, and I hate to waste my time on a book that is barely worth it. Here are my current favorites.
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry:
How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World
This book by John Mark Comer is a must-read if you feel overwhelmed. As a busy young family with several businesses and a love for new projects and ideas, this book was a God-send. It’s a great perspective-shifting book for anybody that feels caught in the rat race.
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
This book by Cal Newport offered me an important mindset-shift on how the internet and technology how crept into my life.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Deep Work, also a Cal Newport book, has fundamentally changed my day to day life. An “ideas” person by nature, this book, along with his time block planner book, have helped to rein in my easily distracted nature. This book is somewhat geared toward professional productivity, but it is useful for anybody that struggles with focus and productivity in their life.
Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe
Dangerous Prayers, by Pastor Craig Groeschel was an interesting one for me. One of my goals this year was to study the topic of prayer. I read several books and they all were insightful. However, Craig has a way of turning a deep topic like prayer into an easy read. I don’t totally agree with his entire worldview as is pertains to prayer, but this book was an inspiration to reach for more in my prayer life.
The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
The Comfort Crisis, by Michael Easter was another book that exposed some of my worldview flaws to me. This book does contain some unnecessary language, so be aware of that. The premise of the book is that we have all become fat and lazy, and we don’t really want it any other way. The Comfort Crisis helped me realize that I am more addicted to comfort that I realized, and that an overly comfortable life is not a fulfilled one.
Born to Run
Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall was one of those books that made a real impact on my life. I listened to this audio book, and literally started training for a 5K and completed it. It’s not much, but it’s 3.11 miles further than I was able to run before this book inspired me. This book does contain some unnecessary language and stories, so be aware of that.
Honorable Mentions
Leadership Not by the Book: 12 Unconventional Principles to Drive Incredible Results
Leadership Not by the Book is by David Green, Founder of Hobby Lobby. Probably fifty percent of the books that I read are business related, but this one definitely stood out as a different perspective. Hobby Lobby’s growth and commitment to giving are inspirational. While I love a good, technical business book, this Christian perspective was refreshing.
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
This book by Douglas Brunt is a fun one. I tend to get stuck in the literary world of business and thinking and growth. This book was an attempt to take in a different genre. It’s an investigative look at the life of Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine. He was “suicided” in the age of global tension and the fight John D Rockefeller was having to keep gasoline as the dominant form of power. I listened to this one, and it was perfect.
To Kill a Mockingbird
This Harper Lee classic was another attempt to just enjoy a different genre than my normal. It reminded me that classics are classics for a reason.
I’d love to hear your book recommendations! Drop your favorites in the comments… Reading a book is a commitment to several hours of time and it’s always great to not waste energy or time on a mediocre book!
A Story of Blazing Glory
A short story, inspired by Ezekiel 16.
Inspired by Ezekiel 16
The morning you were born, dew covered the earth in a cold shimmer. The sun peered over the mountains surrounding you and lit the beads of water on fire.
There you lay, where your mother had left you, among the cold, freshly cut field. There was no comfort for you. No swaddle to warm you, no soft place to lay your head. Only cold, short grass that was drenched in flaming dew. The sun tried its best to warm you, but its light was the cold light of winter and you felt no warmth.
You cried out in your misery, blood covered and pitiful. And yet no eye that saw you pitied you. No heart broke for you. On the day you were born, you were despised and rejected. And still, the sun peered over the mountains surrounding you, trying to warm you.
“I knelt beside you and took you into my arms and whispered, ‘Live!’”
On the day you were born, I passed by the field and saw you wallowing in your blood and in the mud of the cold, flaming dew. I knelt beside you and took you into my arms and whispered, “Live!” I cleaned you and made you flourish like a beautiful flower. As you grew, I cared for you and loved you in your misery and pain.
With the sun and mountains surrounding you, you became as beautiful as the day you were born with the flaming dew shimmering like glitter over the field. I clothed you in my own robe made of fine silk and adorned you with beautiful jewels and embroidered cloth and expensive leather. I anointed you with oil and placed a beautiful crown of glory on your head. I gave you food that tickled your tastebuds and filled your stomach.
You knew nothing but comfort and love from me.
You were exceedingly beautiful and treated as royalty.
You were redeemed and transformed.
And on the day the sun disappears forever behind the mountains that surround you, the splendor and majesty I clothed you in will shine brighter than the sun ever did, setting the dew on the fields ablaze forever and ever.
“This I did for you”
This I did for you, declares Jehovah Go’El, the Lord your Redeemer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home, and Queens, New York her sometimes home. She enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and swimming. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
5 Minimal Holiday Card Ideas
5 Minimal and Simple Holiday Photo Card Ideas to Get Your Creative Wheels Turning.
Five minimal Holiday Photo Card Design Ideas to get your creative wheels turning.
This Hugs, Love, and Joy design is clean and minimal. However, the design relies on the strength of your photo to make the card work. If you want to switch up the words on a design like this, it’s totally fine! Just switch them out though, rather than adding more words. For example, you could have Peace, Love, and Joy rather than Hugs, Love and Joy. You wouldn’t want to just add Peace to the top of Hugs, Love, and Joy though, because the design would begin to feel cluttered.
Another great way to have a minimal feel is to go with a clean square design like this one. The White border on this design also adds a timeless feel.
Here is another example of the white border. A beautiful add-on graphic in a corner can make a simple design like this one look good. However, there is something about the confidence of adding nothing, and just allowing the photo to stand on its own with the white border that make the minimal feel elegant.
Prefer a vertical version? All the same principles apply.
Minimal Designs do not need to be “stoic”. This round photo design has a trendy feel, while maintaining a minimal look. This design relies less on the photo and more on the text to do the work of the design. This probably isn’t a great design if you have more than three or four people in your photo.
In summary
Less is more; almost always, especially when you are wanting a minimal feel.
Photos are king. No matter how great your graphic is, all of these designs depend on at least a good photo, and a great one is better.
Minimal is subjective. Don’t get caught up in needing to be 100% “minimalist”; find a design that you love and go with it.
Your physical product matters. Quality paper and print are your final step to ensuring an excellent product. Here is you best place to find that! ;)
Silent Walking
“The first two minutes are mayhem.” How silent walking became a trend, and what we should think about it.
Have you heard of the recent TikTok trend, silent walking? It’s a revolutionary idea, in which the participant goes for a walk with absolutely no distractions. No music, no podcast, no audio book, no walking partners. Just walking, alone, in silence. World shattering.
When I first heard about silent walking, my first reaction was to scoff. “Wow, Generation TikTok has turned something all of humanity had been doing as a normal daily survival activity for thousands of year into a ‘revolutionary trend’”
I dug a little deeper. Listen to this quote from one of the “trendsetters” when she first encountered the idea of walking without any distraction.
“At first I was like… no, my anxiety could never, which is probably what you are thinking, but something within me was like ‘Let me just try it.’
The first two minutes are mayhem. Your mind is racing, you’re gonna have anxiety. But something happens after two minutes, where your brain just gets into this flow state and everything is quiet and suddenly, you can… hear yourself. After 30 minutes of silent walking, I suddenly had the clarity, that I had been always looking for. Brain fog lifted, suddenly all these ideas are flowing into me because I’m giving them space to enter.”
After hearing the TikToker describe her first silent walk, my nose-in-the-air scoffing felt a bit harsh. I’m not old, but I had the privilege of just missing the true age of social media while I was a teen. The age of the smart phone being an extension of a ten year old’s body. The sentence, "After 30 minutes of silent walking, I suddenly had the clarity, that I had been always looking for.” haunts me. This young generation is being robbed of clarity, of peace, of stillness. All things that are the groundwork to stability and growth.
My heart breaks a little bit every time I see a group of school kids sitting around a table, checking their phones. The awkwardness of silence in a group has a way of forcing conversation, unless the silence can be filled with mindless scrolling or gaming.
We have unquestioningly given 5 and 6 and 10 and 15 year old kids devices. Devices that are designed to connect them to each other and to us, which they do. They also are devices that have created a dependency that produce sentences like “The first two minutes are mayhem.”
What is the solution? In my opinion, it is forced moderation. Are you a parent that is worried about staying in touch with your child? Give them a phone. Please, please do them a favor though and don’t let them mindlessly scroll or listen or watch. This is not tyranny. This (in my opinion) is love. My personal favorite method for this is the screen time apps that require a passcode for whatever you want to restrict. Practice what you preach and limit your own screen time with a passcode on your own phone. Also, for crying out loud, don’t let it be a passcode that the phone owner knows!
To be clear, I’m not anti-technology! My livelihood depends on it, and there are so many great benefits. Just do your family a favor, and force limitations on it. If you don’t, it will certainly force limitations on you. Whether it is the toll it takes on your ability to focus, or your ability to emotionally connect with other people on a real, deep level, it will demand a price from you. Which limitation sounds better to you?
Take More for Granted
When we lose something or someone we love, we begin to realize how much of life we take for granted. We often don’t know how much we have and how richly we are blessed until we lose it. It’s a fact of life that we may never be able to get rid of.
“We take small things for granted all the time and we won’t stop with a blog post. ”
But I’m not here to tell you to stop taking life for granted or to go play with your kids while you can, or call your mom before it’s too late. We take small things for granted all the time and we won’t stop with a blog post.
“Isn’t it a mercy... that God grants us the bliss of normalcy and taking things for granted?”
We wake up every morning, thinking everything will be the same. That everyone we love will still be there and the steady job we have will always be waiting on us. We assume that everything good in our life will keep being good. Of course we remember to be thankful for some things. What would a person be if they weren’t thankful? But no one is thankful for everything all of the time. Some might recognize that fact and think of it as a negative thing. And indeed, a thankful spirit is a necessity in a Christian life, but isn’t it a mercy that we can take things for granted? Isn’t it a mercy that we don’t constantly think about what we could lose; that God grants us the bliss of normalcy and taking things for granted?
We do not start our days scared that our house may be bombed.
We do not live in constant fear of losing our lives because of what we believe.
We do not worry about when our next meal will be.
We live taking the blessings of a safe shelter, security and freedom, and simple necessities for granted. Isn’t it a mercy that our lives are so normal that we take things for granted?
About the Author
Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home where she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and running. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
Freedom is Bondage?
What if we all understood what true freedom looked like?
Imagine complete freedom.
What does that look like? No restrictions? Complete free will? Limited government? Nobody to tell you what to do?
Maybe it’s better defined with a question… who has more freedom:
A “trust-fund baby” that answers to no one and has plenty of money to fuel his passion for liquor and women and cocaine…
or
A young man who is in a mentorship program with strict accountability, requiring him to wake up at 5:30 every morning to spend time in prayer and meditation, followed by an hour-long workout?
“Who has more freedom? The trust-fund guy or the disciplined guy? ”
Who has more freedom? The trust-fund guy or the disciplined guy?
Freedom to endless cocaine isn’t freedom. It’s bondage.
A disciplined life isn’t bondage. It’s freedom.
I’ve heard stories of people feeling freedom for the first time after confessing and going to jail after years of hiding some evil they had done.
“Is freedom a myth?”
Now I’m a little confused… is freedom a myth?
Romans 8:1-2 says this:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
A few verses later in Romans 8 says “not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
“True freedom is saying no to everything that has a weight of sin attached to it. ”
According to that, freedom is to be free from sin and “death”. True freedom is saying no to everything that has a weight of sin attached to it.
The old adage “Freedom isn’t free” rings true here. Flesh-based, boundless freedom always ends in bondage. Always.
True freedom starts with putting our “flesh” and it’s wants into bondage.
Ephesians 4:22-23 says:
“Regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude],” AMPLIFIED
“Freedom starts with discipline.”
Freedom starts with bondage… the binding of the nature inside all of us that wants things that aren’t good for us.
Like nearly everything in life, the easiest path isn’t the best path.
Wait a minute… is easy also a myth?
Plastic Straws and Turtles
Plastic straws and turtles are two things I have become hyper aware of in the last several years. It all started with a TikTok, believe it or not, of someone making a funny video about wearing a green shirt and buying metal straws to support the turtles. What started as a joke about single handedly saving the turtles everytime I used a metal straw, grew into something more serious. I am by no means living a minimal waste life or actively saving the environment every hour of the day, but I have found that living more environmentally conscious often comes down to nothing more than thought patterns.
“What difference can I even make?”
We’re often tempted to think that the problem of waste, microplastics, fast fashion, and pollution are all too huge to even do anything about them. We wonder if these problems may be less about the individual and more about large corporations. We ask the question, “what difference can I even make?” That question is valid and the fact is, pollution and waste are huge problems that will take immense efforts by millions of people to change or even slow. But we don’t need to talk about that now. We’re here to talk about plastic straws and turtles.
Because using metal straws became a joke about saving the turtles, I began to really think about every time I used a plastic straw instead of a metal one. I knew that my tiny effort was hardly making a dent in the pollution problem, but I soon started noticing other things. Like how often plasticware appeared at gatherings and how I would quickly throw out my slightly dirty plastic plate for a clean one. Or how easy it was to lose my plastic cup because I could just grab another one, or how convenient it was to pick up a couple bottled waters from the gas station on a long road trip. Or how I’d search out a plastic straw for my drink when I could just as easily have enjoyed it without one. How the vegetables I bought came wrapped individually in plastic for no apparent reason or how often I would ask for a plastic bag when I could have carried my purchases without one.
It was nothing but a joke at first. Something to laugh at because of course, that one time I used my dusty metal straw instead of a plastic one, could surely not make a difference for the entire environment.
“It was never about the plastic straws or the turtles.”
Or could it? It was never about the plastic straws or the turtles. It was always about thought patterns and the cumulative effect of a lifestyle.
About the Author
Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home where she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and running. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
You Will Lose
Loss. It ain’t great.
I am currently in the crazy “young growing family” stage of life, not typically a stage that is associated with “loss”. However, we are constantly experiencing loss.
This year, I lost my four year old son, because he turned five.
My two year old daughter is already talking about her lama-themed birthday party (her birthday is still a few months out) It’s just a matter of time before I will have forever lost the experience of being her parent when she is two.
Occasionally, when I watch the kids playing, I feel a touch of sadness or nostalgia. I will never get to be a child again. Never.
Modern medicine and science have done a pretty good job of convincing us that death is all but avoidable. Anti-aging creams. Medicines that will keep you going. Hospitals that will hook you up to a thousand tubes and wires to extend life. Anything… ANYTHING, to keep us breathing.
Don’t get me wrong, those options are not bad, necessarily. Don’t believe the lie though that with enough money and focus, you can become or stay healthy and young. You will lose those too.
Ok, bear with me… this isn’t a post about grief… or making a list about the things you’ve lost so that you can “work through them”. This is a call to action!
There is some evidence that cultures that embrace loss are happier than cultures that try to whitewash it. Embrace it.
“I better make the most of it”
For example: I will 100% lose my two year old daughter, because she will soon be a 3 year old. When I live my life with that knowledge as a backdrop, it becomes much easier to stop and listen to her questions. Or just to enjoy her crazy antics. This is a once in a lifetime stage of life… literally. I only have a few months left to live life when my oldest daughter is two, I better make the most of it.
“Embrace your now, and the people who are in it”
Is this melodramatic? Maybe a touch. The point isn’t to live in fear and constant dread of loss. Instead, embrace the people and the stage of life you have, while we have them.
Turn off the phone, the news, the podcast. Those are almost all unimportant in the long run. Embrace your now, and the people who are in it. Because you will 100% lose them too, and time is wasting.
This I Believe
Until you believe what you know, your lifestyle won’t change.
People who grow up in Christian settings are taught from a young age that God created the world, Jesus is the son of God, Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God has endless grace and love for us, and we are forgiven of our sins if we ask. Theological ideas and patterns of thought are emphasized over and over till they can be repeated from memory. Children are taught an almost endless array of biblical knowledge that they can discuss in casual conversation by the time they are teenagers. The question is do they believe what they know?
For any of us who know all the things the Bible says, do we believe that God, beginning with nothing but Himself, created everything, from the cosmos that are billions of light years away, down to the very atoms that make us? Do we believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man? Do we believe that God truly forgives us of all the wrongs we have done when we simply ask him for forgiveness? Do we believe that His grace covers everything every day of our lives?
“It is one thing to know, it is something completely different to believe.”
It is one thing to know, it is something completely different to believe. If we do not believe what we know about God, we can easily go an entire day without talking to him, or reading His word, or asking for forgiveness. We live stuck in guilt and shame, never quite knowing the full potential of the characteristics of God. If we do not believe in God and all the things He has promised, He has no value to us. A lifestyle like that leads to spiritual dehydration, but until we believe what we know, our lifestyles won’t change.
“Until we believe what we know, our lifestyles won’t change.”
When we truly believe the things we know we can live free from guilt and the burdens of past sins because God forgives. We can live in preparation for eternal life with the living God because eternity is not just a concept. We can live renewed everyday by God’s grace because his mercies are new every morning. We can live without worry because He takes care of all His creations, even the sparrows. We can live courageously because God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power.
This temporary world offers knowledge, but God offers more. He calls us to something higher. Our lives can transcend knowledge. We can live in the power of believing what we know.
About the Author
Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home where she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and running. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
When Prayer is Dangerous
Do you dare to pray dangerously?
When I first heard the term “praying dangerously,” I was still a young teenager trying to understand a real, conversational relationship with an almighty God. At the time, I was amazed that I had never heard about this idea before. I was captivated by it and at times a bit scared to think too deeply about it. Since then I’ve been slowly learning to pray dangerously and wondering why we don’t talk about this more.
What does it mean to pray dangerously? A dangerous prayer is asking God for opportunities that do not immediately benefit us, with no thought of ourselves; asking God to give us opportunities of growth, chances to show His love to others, or opportunities to share the gospel.
“When praying for opportunities to grow, one cannot pray timidly. ”
When praying for these things, one must pray in complete faith that God will hear the prayer and answer it. Of course, faith in prayer is always necessary, but when praying for opportunities to grow, one cannot pray timidly. Because when we pray for things that are completely aligned with God’s will and what He teaches, does He not answer them?
John writes in 1 John 5:14, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
Of course God will answer those prayers! If you ask Him to, God will give you many opportunities to exercise your patience, or act unselfishly, or to share God’s love with others.
“Am I willing to walk through the doors God will inevitably open?”
The question then is not, “will God open those doors,” but “am I willing to walk through the doors God will inevitably open.” Therein lies the danger. Will you risk asking God for things that will stretch you and possibly be uncomfortable for you? Do you have the courage to ask God to give you a heart that beats the same rhythm as His? Do you dare to pray dangerously?
About the Author
Tina calls Northwestern Pennsylvania her home where she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, reading captivating and educational books, spending time in coffee shops, and occasionally engaging in an active lifestyle via biking, rock climbing, hiking, and running. She values the power of words and loves to see writing change and impact lives. If you’d like to contact her directly, you can reach her at tina.thesimpledesignco@gmail.com.
What Can Postcards Do for Your Business?
What Can Postcards Do for Your Business?
Postcards are especially useful for local businesses… landscaping or construction or brick and mortar or any other business that serves a relatively specific locality.
Are postcards effective? In a word, yes. However, your business is different than every other business, and your postcard should also be unique. This makes the success of each run of postcards different, even for the same company.
Here are a few best practices that have helped the runs of postcards that we have done.
“Events like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, or even spring, for crying out loud, seem to sneak up out of nowhere… as if we had no warning. ”
Be specific. A typical lawn care company, for instance, may provide seven different services… mowing, mulching, aeration, …etc. If your postcard uses all of it’s real estate to promote everything that you do in bullet point style, it looks just like every other piece of “junk mail” that homeowners get. We have had more success when we focused in on one specific service, such as lawn mowing.
Offer something worth something. Several months ago, we did a run of postcards for our coffee shop that offered a free cookie to customers who presented the postcard in the shop. Nothing is ever a guarantee in marketing, but if a customer sees “This postcard is good for a free cookie” rather than, “get 10% off your next purchase” the value of your postcard hovering over their trash can is more tangible.
Plan Ahead. Small businesses tend to fly a bit by the seat of their pants, especially in marketing (this is the voice of experience talking). Events like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, or even spring, for crying out loud, seem to sneak up out of nowhere… as if we had no warning. If your business is seasonal in any aspect, plan ahead. A run of postcards is so much easier to do well if it has been thought through, months in advance. We are six years into this business and finally last year we planned ahead for our busy season for the first time. It’s easy to focus your energy on marketing during your slow season, and marketing can be useful during that time. However, use your down season to prepare to reach the most people, when they are the most likely to want your service/product. For example: If you wait until June to do a run of postcards advertising your lawn mowing service, most of your potential clients already have somebody taking care of their lawn. You will probably get some calls and even a few clients, but your dollars will definitely not go as far as they would have just before lawn mowing season began.
Experiment. As with any marketing strategy, the first run is almost never the best run. Experiment multiple times over multiple seasons and play for the long game. Just because you didn’t see excellent results the first time you sent out postcards, doesn’t mean they weren’t effective. Sometimes the introduction to your company that a postcard provides can get the ball rolling, even if you don’t realize the benefits of that interaction for several years.
What is the best avenue for local postcard marketing? In my opinion, it is Every Door Direct Mail, or EDDM. EDDM is a service that the post office provides at a greatly discounted rate compared to normal postcard prices on a per-card mailing cost, making every dollar you spend go further. If you want to learn more or you would like to have a postcard designed or printed? Contact us here!