Simplicity
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This last week was powerful as we deepen the practice of simplicity in our lives. Anytime you begin to address and take action with the clutter in our lives, it hits a nerve. At the same time, it's like a breath of fresh air. The following are excerpts from an email I received from a Participant at Threads named John Weldy. (If you are not a video gamer, that's ok, just read on.)
"During the Spiritual Talk today, I couldn't help but think of a video game we downloaded this week. No, my mind wasn't wandering - it just seemed like the perfect metaphor.
Dr. Mario is a classic 'video' game that I spent countless hours playing in college.
At it's base level, Dr. Mario is a very simple puzzle game, like Tetris...For the first couple levels, the game is very easy. It starts with about 10 viruses (a few of each color) in a large field at a speed a 5-year old can handle. As the game progresses, it doesn't get more complex, it just gets MORE. There are never more than 3 colors, but the number of viruses and the speed of the game increases dramatically. After a while, the screen is filled with viruses and the games moves at a breakneck pace. One misplaced pill means certain doom.
This, to me, is like our lives. We don't necessarily add more complicated things to our lives (Eccl 1:9), but we definitely add more "stuff" and a faster pace. That, in fact, is the very hallmark of modern America. How much stuff can you cram into 24 hrs? When 'someone' asked us this week what we would have to give up in order to have more time to connect with God, one person said, "Sleep." Really? Is that what we've come to? Are our lives really so busy that we have to deny ourselves one basic need in order to fulfill another?
The truly telling part of the Dr. Mario analogy, though, is that at the start of every game you are allowed to choose your virus level and speed. That really got me thinking about what I do. Every day I am presented with that choice: How many problems do I want to place in front of my own path and how fast do I want to burn through this day? Sure, there will always be things that come up that I cannot control, but to live life as an observer is to be foolish. I have that choice every day. I have that control, and I need to make sure I use it wisely."
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