Simplicity

Every now and then God reminds me how ridiculously crazy and complicated my life is.... overly so... I need to simplify!

God's doing that with me a lot this lent. I think it might have been been Ash Wednesday Mass that triggered the "moment" when it started. I don't remember what the actual readings were about, whatever Mass it was, but I thought about the passages about slaves obeying masters and all that stuff (Col. 3:22, 1 Pet 2:18, others). The point of most of them, or so it appears through reading over them again, is mostly being an example for Christianity. No matter what.

But there is more. What hit me like a ton of bricks from those passages was stop worrying. Duh, we all know slavery is wrong. At least in America that's a pretty well ingrained concept. So why would Paul say slaves return to your masters? Well... we need to worry about getting right with God. If Paul says to endure even slavery to focus on the internal and being an example for Christ....woh, how much more TODAY in this land of really excessive freedom, do we need to do the same thing?

And that same thing? Simplify. Focus on God, not bettering our earthly situations. I know I am JUST as guilty, if not more than most, of this myself. It doesn't mean forget work and school and family and just sit in the chapel all day...(unless God is calling you to a life of contemplative prayer in a convent or monastery). It does mean focus on the tasks before you. Like school, and work. And be an example through those tasks. Be a CHRISTIAN example, offering up a PRAYER, through those tasks. Studying can very much be a sacrifice. So can work, especially work as it should be...not goofing off, but doing what you have to do get done. Live your vocation and avocation, permanent and temporary!

We've got this "economic crisis" going on. I'm not going to get too political here. A lot of people are struggling to find work, and a lot more are learning how to save for the first time. We, as Americans, spent years living on imaginary money with monstrous houses with big mortgages, cars bought with loans, credit card debt.... live the "American dream," forget if you can afford it. Saving certainly went out the window. And people got lazy at work. There are still a lot of people with jobs who view them as entitlements, not responsibilities. Maybe this economic bout will turn things around. Anyway, the point, as it pertains to this post, is that by and large, we want nice things we don't need and can't afford. Yes, we need shelter and transportation. No, we don't need mansions and BMWs. Get the point?

So I've noticed myself slowly buying more and more into that American "it's okay, I've got a credit card" mentality over the past few years. And you know what? It's done nothing but burden me. Pruning away now is hard though! It's really hard... but check this...the prayer at the end of one of the Psalms in the Office Readings today:

"Father, accept us as a sacrifice of praise, so that we may go through life unburdened by sin, walking in the way of salvation, and always giving thanks to you."

Can you imagine....a life unburdened by sin, walking in the way of salvation? That's a happy life. And duh, it must come at the "cost" of cutting out sin. "No, I don't want to let go of this poison that's killing me, I like it too much!" Really, we're pretty dumb. Freedom. Let's cash in our credit card chips...and live it!