Matthew 6:31-33
"Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What
will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" For it is the Gentiles
who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well."
Father Richard's reflection on this reading from the gospel is titled "Less
Is More." In that writing he talks about muchness and manyness, coupled
with some great wisdom about time and our lack of it. He writes,"Time is
exactly what we do not have. What decreases in a culture of affluence is precisely
and strangely time __ along with wisdom and friendship. These are the very things that the human heart
was created for, that the human heart feeds on and lives for."
Jesus said it to us quite clearly: "Why are you so anxious? Why do you run after
things like the pagans do? What shall I eat? What shall I wear? You are not to
worry about tomorrow. Each day will take care of itself." (Matthew 6:31,34).
In closing Richard says, "This must tell us that we have not understood the
spiritual message of Jesus very well."
The Question: What one or two things do you need to do well? What do you have to
stop doing to do that?
A few years ago I gave a retreat to the women of The First Presbyterian Church of
Ft. Worth. The Topic was "Why Less is More." In preparing to talk with
that great group for a couple of days I realized that the practical aspect of
simplifying life gets plenty of text and attention. But the spiritual work that
is the necessary underpinning of those practical tasks is not often explored.
I have come to believe that the only way the practical steps will be lasting
lies in whether or not we do the spirtual work as well.
Parker Palmer wrote, "If I try to be or do something noble that has nothing
to do with who I am, I may look good to others and to myself for a while. But
the fact that I am exceeding my limits will eventually have consequences."
For the work of simplicity to be real, lasting, true and effective, it will have
to come from a place of organic reality within me. The work of simplifying our
lives will necessarily have to become integral to our nature or it is a futile
effort and wasted time.
In relation to Fr. Richard's question, "What do you have to stop doing ....?"
My response includes another question. What is stopping me from making the changes
I want to make? The answer is .... many things. I'll share one.
My Compulsions ...... Mary O'Malley defines compulsion as, "engaging in any recurring activity
to manage our feelings, an activity that eventuallly ends up managing us."
Those activities are often behind the lack of material simplicity in our lives.
Many of us are compulsive without even knowing it. It isn't until the computer
crashes or the credit card is canceled or the doctor says we can't eat a high-fat
diet that it becomes clear just how much a particular activity controls our lives.
Ultimately our compulsion is to struggle. We live in a story in our heads that is
always trying to get us to "do" life, telling us we need to make ourselves
and our lives better or different from what they are. That story is what I have
to give up.
That story is the core of the mess we are in. The complications of our lives, the
lack of simplicity, stems in great part from this reality. And in the middle
of our awareness of these compulsions and what they bring about in our lives,
we discover for ourselves another of Fr. Richard's teachings from another time:
"If you have to have more and more of the same thing, it isn't working."
Perhaps one of the questions to take with us throughout the remainder of Advent
could surely be ......
Wouldn't less be more?