Do you ever get those feelings on occasion where you just feel overwhelmed and you have to sigh? I always wonder if people throughout history have felt overwhelmed by the pace of life or that I'm the only one?
Recently, I was back East taking some classes. During the day I was very busy listening to lectures and preparing presentations for the following day. But each evening after completing my studies I had a fair amount of time to just sit and veg-out all by myself. It was very odd at first, but I felt like I couldn't relax. Surely there must be something I needed to do, some task that needed my attention, or a child that needed to be picked up or dropped off. I'm not kidding, I felt a sense of anxiety instead of being able to enjoy the silence and a time of rest.
This is also the time I realized I had a problem. I had become addicted to my pace of life, control, and very little time or space left for God. The following is daily reflection and the next couple of post a working through this idea of simplicity.
How are we to honor the testimony of simplicity in our modern world? To many of us, our culture seems so 'busy' and so complex, so full of disturbing news and distractions, that we are sometimes overwhelmed. Our time is often overcommitted, and our wants are manipulated to make us desire what we do not need. Our consumption of goods as a nation is out of control. In our world, the word 'simplicity' may be quickly followed by guilt and then by a sense of frustration, or even despair. We need to think of simplicity not as an impossible demand, but an invitation to a more peaceful and fulfilling Spirit-led life.
Simplicity flows from a well-ordered life. It is less a matter of doing without, than a spiritual quality that simplifies our lives by putting first things first. A simple way of life, freely chosen, is a source of strength, joy and comfort.
The testimony of simplicity is like a bell that calls us to awareness of the Center. It challenges us to ask, "What matters?" It reminds us that much of what worries us and stresses us is not all that important. It asks us to recognize the burdens we carry needlessly and lay them down: our anxiety about our appearance, our struggle to afford what we do not need, comparisons between our lifestyle and the lifestyles of others, squabbles born of tension and stress, worries that leave us exhausted and unable to find time for what matters in our lives.
Simplicity is not about an antique form of dress or speech. It is a reminder that today, as surely as hundreds of years ago, we can choose to allow God to order our lives. It asks us to set aside time for prayer and spiritual discipline that open us to wisdom and guidance beyond our own. Today, as then, it refers to a life lit from within by the Inward Light, ordered by the Love that nourishes the core, and freed by the Spirit from bondage to the superficial.
• What in my present life most distracts me from God?
• What am I ready to release so that I can give my attention to what matters most?
Source: Baltimore Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice Revision Committee
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