The Simple Life

The end of the year Holiday Season is upon us and the stress that is often associated with this time of year always seems to strip us of the heart felt joy that we desire during Christmas. As a child Christmas was very simple. That's because everybody in the adult world is working overtime to make Christmas special for the children. The kids just wait and let it all happen. They are filled with fantasy and expectations while Mom and dad are out there doing all that they can to meet them.

You will read a lot of articles in the paper about how commercial Christmas has become etc and how we need to dig deep for its meaning. The fallacy in all of that is that it is very difficult to change an ongoing lifestyle for just one day of the year. Our life in America is so driven economically that we rarely have time to enjoy the simple heart felt gifts of life. I loved living in West Virginia because the folks down there lived a much simpler life style than we do in the Pittsburgh area. It seems that having less in the material gives you more time to enjoy the intangible gifts of life. The way we we spend our time is a clear indicator of the choices we have made. The American dream is temporal and fleeting at best because at the end none of it really matters.

What we really need life to be on this side of eternity is simple. We don't have to live in a cave or regress or try to re-invent the peaceful 1950's. We just need more time. More time to enjoy friendship. More time to give ourselves to others. Most people want to do these things but their time is pre-occupied primarily to sustain their life style. I have to admit that I have lost a lot of valuable opportunities for friendship because I too have an economic nut to crack. I am seriously considering changing all of this because as they say, the suns a burning. Time is fleeting and so is life.

The material world in itself is not good or bad. The portion of it that you seek after and eventually obtain will determine your lifestyle. It will also have an affect on your true relationship with God and with others. We fall away from the most important gifts of life when we succumb to economic striving. I can see it all around me. I couldn't see it when I was in the cycle myself. I didn't have the time to see it.

Psalm 116:6-8

The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.