It’s Quite Simple
by Maxie Kamalski
Sometimes you just don't have words. You don't know what to say, to your friends, your spouse and especially to God. It sometimes feels like there is just too much happening around you that you don't even know where to start.
In one of my ‘I don't have words’ days recently I was paging through Common Prayer: A Liturgy For Ordinary Radicals, a book that I read daily as a set apart time to connect with God. Near the end of the liturgy there is a collection of prayers for special occasions. In this collection, one prayer always grips my heart:
‘Lord, help me now to unclutter my life, to organize myself in the direction of simplicity. Lord, teach me to listen to my heart; teach me to welcome change instead of fearing it. Lord,I give you these stirrings inside me.
I give you my discontent.
I give you my restlessness.
I give you my doubt.
I give you my despair.
I give you all the longings I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
Help me to listen seriously and follow where they lead
Through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.’
We become busy so often. Our lives are filled to the brim with things, schedules, events and demands. Sometimes we simply need to stop; turn our hearts towards simplicity, and get rid of all the things that hold us back from being generous followers of the Way of Jesus. He made it pretty simple.
Love God; Love others.
That’s it.