"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" (Matt. 6:22, KJV). If all within us is honed down to the single treasure of Christ and his Kingdom, then we are living in the light of simplicity.
...
With our eye focused on Christ the Center, we are to live with glad and generous hearts. This is simplicity.
~Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity, p. 36
One of the features of Lent is a paring back of "life": withdrawing from certain foods, habits, experiences. Not knowing all the history, I can only speak to the effect this appears to have. Paring back in this can help us to focus anew on "Christ the Center". For me, I've stepped away from seeking political and economic news for the season. My usual habit is to skim three national newspapers a day and links from political bloggers. I found that the first influence of my every day was the news and most of it was pretty angry or anger inspiring. That seemed a bit out of kilter with what I thought should be the first influence of my day.
Foster's Freedom of Simplicity happens to be my current browse book and it seems fitting for the Lenten season. On some level contemporary life is not simple. Yet Jesus calls us to his rest and makes it sound like there is space in the kingdom for simplicity. I think Foster is getting at that kind of simplicity, not some fairy tale pastoral ideal (and pastoral life isn't that simple). As Christ moves to the center of our lives, I think we begin to dwell in simplicity of focus. It's not that I shouldn't read the news, but can I learn to read the news while focused on Christ? I think I'd like to see that happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment