"you simplify your life in many ways and find great rewards."
i don't usually hold on to fortune cookie messages, but i've held onto this one. you see, God's been speaking to me for months about simplicity. and even though this message came out of a fortune cookie, i know the message is wisdom. truly, God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
but the more i think about it, the more i realize it takes a lot of work to get to a place of simplicity. some days it seems terribly elusive, and just out of my grasp.
there's one thing that i try to pursue above all others - and that's loving Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. being one with Him in heart, mind and spirit...i crave it above all other things. and the "things" of this world frustrate me even more because this is my heart's greatest desire.
i crave the simplicity of knowing Him, and who i am in Him. i know i have to start here, because He promised that if i seek first "His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be given to (me) as well" (Matthew 6:33).
one morning i was spinning my wheels - i was so overwhelmed with life in general. and i heard the Lord's still, small voice say, "Come to Me." and what He spoke to my heart filled me with hope and life once more.
i forget sometimes to run to Him in the midst of the chaos.
when Jesus was sleeping in a boat during a violent storm, it wasn't because He was ignoring the situation or waiting to see what His disciples were going to do about the problem. He was living within His reality of peace. His world is peace. (the Word calls Him the "Prince of peace".) so for me to find peace, and the simplicity i so desperately crave, i have to hide myself in Him. it may take work getting there, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
i have discovered this one overwhelming truth: i cannot have simplicity in the world around me, until it is manifested in the world within me.
"For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you." 2 Corinthians 1:12 NLT
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