Prayer: Complexity and Simplicity

Read Matthew 6:19-24

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; ²³ but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

We will hear many voices throughout this week and throughout our lives. We have more than one task to complete, more than one commitment to keep. Life is not simple for anyone. We have no reason to expect it to be simple for us. We know that being able to live with complexity is part of what it means to become mature.

We can live with complexity, for we do it every day.

What can be difficult is to live with a myriad of judges, all of them holding a little of our fate in their hands. In fact, it feels like we have a dozen different masters, all of them making equally legitimate claims on us. It will be impossible to live up to the expectations of all of them. None of us can carry that load, and still stay healthy and happy.

In fact, we do not need to carry that load. Lord, you have come to liberate us from that burden.

            When the different voices, duties, and expectations come crowding in help us to remember: 

Ø  Above all the voices, there is one Voice

Ø  Above all the masters, there is one Master

Ø  Above all the duties, there is one Duty

Ø  Above all the judges, there is one Judge 

In the midst of life's complexities, we want to find your holy simplicity.  In the midst of its clamor, we want to find your holy silence.  In the midst of its conflicts, we want to find your holy peace.  Amen.