There is comfort in the simple things.
Keeping things simple means, so the thinking goes, that we can address things just as simply. So all I want is something to eat. So as long as it’s edible and available, I eat and my hunger is satisfied.
Simple.
I do believe aspects of the human experience are simple. People need to be loved. People need to be nurtured. People need to be supported. People need to be understood. Simple things really.
The problem with the simple is when it becomes simplistic. Just as the problem with the formula is when it becomes formulaic. For as beautiful as the sunset appears in the sky, and as picturesque as the fields appear on a lovely spring day’s afternoon, there is a lot more to creation that the simplicity of what we see.
Likewise with this human experience thing.
It might be simple if the love, nurture, support and understanding were abundantly forthcoming from all angles. It might also be simple if we had the wherewithal to embrace these and learn how to reciprocate. As it is in both processes things get complicated. We don’t get the understanding. We miss the love. The support is not so forthcoming. As for nurture, we might as well have brought ourselves up by the bootstraps. Then it could be a real issue of deficiencies in our capacity to accept all these and reciprocate.
Now if those things are complicated on the individual level, it is no surprise that on a mass scale this human condition becomes anything but simple.
Yet despite this being the case, we still think the solutions will be simple for all. We believe a simple economic policy will solve the problem. Perhaps a simple health solution will put things in place. Maybe a simple political remedy will bring the required results.
Or not.
What I am growing to discover the more I engage with people, is that there needs to be an ongoing recognition of the challenges I face, and a ready ability to graciously and compassionately look to understand the challenges that the other person faces. That will not be the same in every case, and getting to the root causes of issues can be arduous work. Arduous but worthwhile, if with the individual’s co-operation, we can highlight these causes and slowly address them as best we can in the context of a community of grace.
Of course, there is the challenge of attaining that co-operation in the first place, and again as I discover more and more, some people are not as willing to be as co-operative. The issues of life has lead the individual to close the door, lock it, block it, seal it, then apply a security code with a password only decipherable by them. It will take much to even get a creak. Still, the power of compassion and hope says that even the doors our abilities and qualities cannot open, are still powerless in the light of the love of God.
In the meantime, there is a time to celebrate the simple things in life, and underneath appreciate that there are still complex issues at work.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 