Simplify.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.  ~Confucius

Did I really just quote Confucius? Yes, yes, I did. While I don't believe in what Confucius believed in- this statement is true nevertheless. I started thinking about how fast paced life is, how busy we are, how "dedicated" we are to so much stuff- and how stressed and unfulfilled our lives seem to be. Christian or not- it seems that everybody is just so busy that we don't have time for anything: our families, our faith, ourselves. and that's a dangerous spot to be in. because WHEN you become that busy- things start to come unraveled: nerves, emotions, friendships, marriages, you know what I'm sayin'. 

And if we take the time to really- really think about our lives- WE complicate things. WE decide to take on one more project. Go to one more event. Watch one more TV episode. 

Example: 

One of the things that I enjoy as part of my "down-time" is watching cooking competitions/reality TV shows.  One of these shows comes on when I am normally at church so I decided that I would Hulu it later (hulu.com- I've got mad love for hulu)- so the other night- I decided I was going to finally catch up (I was 6 episodes behind- YIKES!) and it was around 9- it finished at 10- and I decided to watch another episode- well during that 2nd episode I noticed I was getting a migraine- a really bad one- because I was tired.  Sleep (which was the simple gift life had given me) wasn't enough- I insisted on complicating life (by staying up). 

and that's just a silly example of what we do on a daily basis. When it comes to spiritual things (especially worship), we tend to do the SAME thing. We all know worship isn't music. It doesn't depend on lyrics on a screen, good vocals, or many instruments on the stage- but so many times, in our minds, we complicate it because we add in all the things that we KNOW aren't what worship is about.  We make it so difficult on ourselves to enter into God's presence! All we need is a "Thank You" and an admiration for God- and we're in! [Psalms 100:4] Simple! 

God really is jealous for our hearts. our minds. our will. Exodus 20:4-5. Sunday, I sang a pretty powerful song by Ross King called "Clear the stage"- Here are some of the lyrics: 

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the One who deserves it.
You can sing all you want to 
Don't get me wrong- worship is more than a song. 

Worship is all about the revelation of who God is and our response. 




So maybe God asking that we clear the stage of our lives- all of our pre-conceived ideas and notions about how we think life should be lived... all of our past hurts and let-downs with "Church" or "Christianity"...Maybe God is asking that for more than just one day out of the week- we clear the stage of our lives with all our running here and there and wait. Simply wait.





What simple thing in your life has snow-balled into a complex monster that has really just sucked all the life  out of you? Maybe it's your schedule. Maybe it's your relationships. Maybe it's volunteering for MORE stuff.  Maybe it's your job. Maybe it's what you talk about. Maybe it's your attitude about church. Maybe it's worship. Maybe it's something else.... ask God to help you simplify this week. It will be worth it!