In our day of the knowledge explosion, technological gadgets and perspectives on life, there are competing needs for my time and my devotion. The idea of having clothes to wear or a place to call home can end up being a consuming worry. Our culture celebrates these competing needs by labeling people as ambitious, vogue or fashionable. Not only do these things compete for me but popular culture encourages this sense of competition, complexity and confusion.
Yet when we gaze at nature, we hear the song of simplicity that beckons us from our fragmented selves. From the bright colors of the flowers to the agile flight of the birds, God's simple care and concern for creation is plain for us to see. We close our eyes deliberately and rush about anxiously in search of splendor, at the risk of forgetting that if God cares for flaura and fauna, "will he not much more clothe you?" you who are the crown of his creation, you his beloved child?
An invitation to the path of simplicity is given to us:
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
When many things crave for your attention, there is at that very moment a possibility for simplicity. Whereas duplicity breeds fatigue, fury and fragments, simplicity births refreshment, peace and wholeness. This path of simplicity that commences from the inwardness of the heart, weaves its way outward in how we relate with people, how we think about wealth, ambition and work, and how we respond to social injustice, inequality and the presence of poverty.
More Resources on the Discipline of Simplicity:
- Richard Foster’s article on the Discipline of Simplicity
- Video Resource from Renovare series on “Foundations for Christian Spirituality”
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