A new day is breaking. A new week has begun.
Life is much simpler now – enhanced by the simple
surroundings of this cozy little hermitage-like cabin in the woods that has
become our full-time retirement retreat. We no longer live in dread of Monday.
Achieving this simplicity was not easy.
It took a lot of
determination. It took a lot of letting go. It took a lot of ignoring the
voices and opinions of well-intentioned others that were not able to wrap their
minds around the ideals that we considered most important in our lives.
It is difficult to describe the peacefulness that this much
simpler life has brought to our lives.
Here, in the serenity and solitude of
our little cabin in the woods, we have much more control over the things that daily
interrupt and run interference. We are no longer bombarded by the time
restraints and demands that characterized our lives before this monumental
move. We have learned to relax.
We, in a sense, now own the time that we have.
We arise in peacefulness. We retire to rest in peacefulness.
There is ample time, between rising and retiring, for the things that we consider
most important in our lives.
I am reminded of the Proverb, “Better a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with
strife.”[1]
Strife is most often thought of as interpersonal relational
conflict. It is that. It is more than that though. Little thought is given to
the dimensions of strife generated in our lives by our adherence to and pursuit
of the standards of living prescribed by ideals of success which insist that
more is better and bigger is best. How much of our genuine selves, how much of
our ability to give of ourselves in genuinely charitable relationships, is
compromised by striving after the world’s standards of success?
I remind myself of how easy it is to succumb to the world’s
standards when we are so carefully cautioned against it.
“Do not love the world
or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the
world; for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of
the eyes, the pride in riches – comes not from the Father but from the world.”[2]
How much conflict, how much strife, how much human grief is
eliminated from our lives when we embrace the truth and simplicity contained in
abandoning the world’s standards and pursuing Christ in the simplicity of the
Gospel and in the instructions of those he appointed to shepherd his fledgling
Church? The answer is simple – great amounts of it.
Advent is an invitation for all the world to consider and
accept God’s gift of Salvation through Christ. Advent is also an invitation for all believers to experience afresh this gift of love in our lives – to begin afresh
with deeper and more fervent love for Christ where we joyfully “Sing to the Lord a new song.”[3]
I remind myself that there is peace to be discovered – peace
to be had. It is a peace in our lives that radiates out into the world around
us. It is a transforming peace that goes with us, even into the Baca - into dry
and barren places – where it waters and nourishes our souls.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
For the courts of the LORD;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy
To the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young,
At your altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
Ever singing your praise,
Happy are those whose strength is in you,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca
They make it a place of springs;
They early rain also covers it with pools.
The go from strength to strength;
The God of gods will be seen in Zion.[4]
Whatever you are going through in your own valley of Baca, it is our prayer that
the peace of God strengthens and sustains you.
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