Students shared the final product of a semester-long journey towards simple living with their community on Wednesday night. 

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students led a workshop asking their community why would want to live a simple lifestyle. The coincidence that a conference about living a simpler lifestyle was being held at a semi-private university in Tuxedo did not go unnoticed. Students took care to understand that location was important to their questions. 

“As I think about the things I consume daily I wonder how they come to me, and that’s something that’s important to ask,” CMU student Peri Wiebe says. 

Interactive workshops on simple living practices such as candle making and wool weaving were led by students in the Study of Simple Living course. Kenton Lobe, Instructor, International Development and Environmental Studies works hard to blend the classroom with real-life applications. 

“Something else happens when you leave the classroom and change the dynamics of teacher/student,” Lobe says.  

A free-cycle clothing and item shop was also present, encouraging people to evaluate their need for more things. 

“Would it make my life easier if I had less things? Would it be easier if I had more things?” Jayden Lennea, a student at CMU asks. 

Mary Jo Leddy, a Christian author located in Toronto, was also present at the workshop through a video call from the Romero House. Her book, Simple Gratitude, was one of the texts CMU students used to understand simple living. Workshop attendees were invited to ask questions about simple living and its connection to God.  

Leddy grew up in Saskatoon as a Catholic but looked to Mennonites for inspiration in how to live gratefully in a community. “Never double the wisdom you already have,” Leddy says. 

Leddy works with many people of different faiths through her work and has found that living a simple lifestyle with others has expanded how she views the world. 

“All these great traditions are like rivers, going towards the same ocean,” Leddy says. “Our task is to find the rivers to swim in that will take us to the ocean.”