Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy

Last Updated on July 23, 2026 by Michelle

Steadfast. Unchanging, no matter what. Not too many things are that way today. And we don’t often WANT things to be dutifully firm. We want better, fancier, higher pixels and lower carbs. Upgraded, boosted, and improved.

“Modern” tends to be what folks desire, and “old-fashioned” has a bad rap.

But I see it the opposite way many times… which isn’t too surprising I guess since I tend to always go against the flow.

But I also see the tide turning lately. The more AI and “convenience” fills our daily lives, the more we’re craving real connection, real food, real hands-on knowledge that can only be learned the hard way. More on that in a minute…

So, yeah, call me a rebel.

Don’t get me wrong. I like “new.” I love my new phone that allows me to always have a great camera in my back pocket. And I’d much rather churn my butter with my high-powered KitchenAid that has it done in 10 minutes flat, with zero effort on my part, than sit and turn a handle for four times as long.

But I love all my connections to the past as well. The really old, antiquated things I tend to surround myself with in my really old, antiquated New England farmhouse. From Bill’s grandmother’s hand-braided wool rug that still cushions our feet, more than 8 decades after she cut the amber, brown, and green strips of wool and twisted them together, to mom’s old blue mason jars filled with wooden spools, to my grandmom’s old wooden butter mold that I would love to use every week if only I had all the pieces and it wasn’t so weathered.

 

I’m just a grandma making real food in a world of fake AI.

I feel very out-of-place most days. While my job necessitates that I understand new social apps and how to use AI, it all makes me crave human connection even more. Apparently a lot of others are feeling this pull as well. I shared this sentiment today on instagram see the short video here and I literally made thousands of new friends in an hour. 

So many people commented that they are craving learning old fashioned skills, but instead AI fills their feeds.

People know that modern is convenient, but the convenience comes at a cost. And, instead, we’re changing the baseline. Together we’re starting to send the message that we want real and slow over artificial intelligence and convenience.

If you’d like to learn a super simple way to be less inundated with AI when you’re on social media and on google, I gotcha covered->

 

Simple doesn’t mean easy, folks.

While my simple wool rug, old jars, and broken butter mold have no intrinsic value–I probably couldn’t get 50 bucks for both items combined–they remind me daily that simple joys don’t come easy.

They require hard work. And that’s okay.

Because no matter how many apps my phone has or how large and powerful my food processor is, I can’t avoid life’s hard work. And I shouldn’t want to.

Troubles, aches, grief, loss, and so many deep-cutting pains abound in our days, effects that no app can cure and no gadget can erase, but “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” And the hard work makes us appreciate the sunrise and other glimpses of His love and mercy even more.

That brings me back to where this all started…

“Upgraded” and “fancier” isn’t always better.

Steadfast. Unchanging, no matter what. Not too many things are that way today. And that’s the way we like it, apparently. We WANT things to always be changing. We want better, fancier, higher pixels and lower carbs. Upgraded, boosted, and improved.

But some things can’t be improved…

I woke to a snow-covered sunrise this morning that reminded me. While every day is indeed new… a clean slate… a glorious opportunity to start again… I serve an awesome God who has been making sure every day is filled with His glory from the dawn of time.

And there is no improving on Him.

I choose old rugs and broken butter molds.

So if I had to choose, I’d take old rugs and broken butter molds over the latest technology. I’d choose reminders in my everyday moments of who I am, where I come from, and what generations before me accomplished. Yes, there has been hard work, troubles, aches, grief, and loss, but oh there have been simple joys as well. I can’t truly have one without the other, as far as I see it. So, yes, today I am thankful for the antiquated.

The view I have tonight, in my backyard, only solidifies my thoughts. The floodlights that help us do our evening chores illuminate the snow-powdered maples on the other side of the barn. Promises of his goodness that will soon run through those tree trunks and fill our sap buckets with delight and our table with maple syrup joy.

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Read here if you’d like to see some of the maple-syrup-making joy around our homestead. Or go here to find out how YOU can make maple sugar even without ever tapping one tree.

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I am thankful for simple joys in the very midst of the “hard.”

But for now, we’ll toss some hay to the cows, close up the chicken coop, and I will recount a few simple joys I am thankful for in the very midst of the sometimes cold, long, hard night.

Of course, a fancy phone and a new nighttime app helped me share my backyard with you tonight. So I’m keeping my phone. And my KitchenAid.

But I’m looking at getting a pretty old-fashioned butter mold that I can actually use, when I’m making butter, like this one.

Wishing some simple joys for you today, friend.

I pray that you too have a reminder of His unfailing love in your day today and find you have much to be thankful for every day, in the simple things.

Follow along on my podcast, Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy, on your favorite podcast player. Find all the links right here.

 

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“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22