How We Embrace Simplicity

Isn’t it ironic that we live in a world full of modern conveniences that are supposed to make life easier and more efficient, yet we find ourselves more stressed and busier than ever?  We live in a world of smartphones, dishwashers, microwaves, automobiles, and stores on every corner—all designed to make our lives more efficient. So why, when we lay our heads down at night, do we still have a running list of things we did not get to during the day because there wasn’t enough time.  We are overworked and overscheduled—we’ve made life complicated.In our children’s ministry, I’ve realized the importance and value of simplicity.  To focus on the basics by reminding myself that, just like the rest of us, our children need Jesus.  When coming to church they don’t need neon signs at our entrance. They don’t need fancy, state of the art playgrounds.  They don’t need mid-week programming or monthly carnivals that add to an already busy family schedule. They need to know God.  They need to hear the words of Jesus. They need adults who will invest in their spiritual development. They need Christian friends that will give them love and encouragement when the world knocks them down.  They need a church family that welcomes them into the service, wiggles and all. That is why we read our Bibles, we pray for each other, and we get to know one another. We open our church doors to the families in our community during outreach events to simply share God’s love and hospitality.  We have family dinner nights because we all need to eat, so why not eat together? It isn’t complicated—we keep it simple. We’ve talked about God sending His Holy Spirit to guide us, and how the early church learned together, prayed together, served together, and ate together:“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.”  Acts 2:46The early church focused on God.  They kept it simple by loving God, loving each other, and being generous and thankful-- and they grew in number each day.I’m thankful for a faith community that eats together, prays together, and praises God together.  In a world of busyness, stress, and complication, imagine if we concentrated on the simple—if each day we found one simple thing to do for someone else—held a door, said please and thank-you, smiled at a stranger, gave a complement.  Don’t underestimate or limit what God can do with a single act of kindness. Let’s embrace simplicity, then trust God to take our simple acts and make them extraordinary.