A well stacked wood pile in a dry shed. Long green grass under blue sky with fluffy white scudding clouds. A slow walk on the rail trail with the dog. A gruff v8 engine in a sleek ute. ATVs. Teeny tiny flowers in the grass. Super fresh eggs. Really Old Trees. Watching the sea for hours. The smell of rain on a hot road. French Earl Grey Tea. Beautiful fabrics and papers. Nail Polish. Beetles and bugs. Feathers. A really good HB pencil…
What are your favourite simple things?
Humanity wrestles with significance. We need to know that we are loved, it is vital to our health and well-being as individuals.
As a species we live with the paradox of both aggrandising and significantly underplaying our place in the universe. We forget or do not understand that our voice is powerful, and therefore do not speak or act when we could or should. We also feel entitled and consider ourselves to be gods and within that entitlement we attempt to take control of things that we will never have control over. Much damage is done in both instances.
Our sense of significance can only come from one place if we want our lives to run with any kind of deep, abiding sense of fulfilment.
When we seek the face of God for our sense of significance, then knowing where we fit becomes a matter of looking in the eyes of Jesus and following His lead.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.” Matthew 6:26-29 (NIV)
Sometimes I think I spend more time concerned about how to get people to notice me, or stressing about the reason for the season I am in than allowing God to be God and just letting things be. It doesn’t take much to turn from His Face and seek a validation in something else, as little as a second, and then a slow slide into a regular habit of first seeking the face of tv, or chocolate biscuits, or your best friend before we look at God for the reminder of who we are and that we are ok (pick your poison).
There is more power in being present with the simple things, and consciously living from the Presence of the Living God, than in any other state of being.
Making the decision to turn away from that place of seeking the face of something else can be tough. The stuff doesn’t really tell you who you are though and real peace is found in the Face and Presence of the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit.
God Bless You Very Much
Anita