Simplicity

7 Aug

“Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts.  Neither intelligence nor talents.  He cherishes simplicity.”  St. Therese of Lisieux

“Prove it.”  Those two words probably sum up a great part of our lives from the time we are very young to the time we die.  Someone tells us that we are a friend.  Prove it.  Someone tells us that we are important.  Prove it.  Someone tells us that we have their backing.  Prove it.  We do the same to our God.  If you love us, God, prove it.  If you say you’re going to help us in our need, prove it.  The list could go on and on.

The proving that we expect can be quite elaborate as well.  Not only does someone have to prove himself or herself, that person has to prove it in a big way.  The bigger the better.  Because, after all, if a person tells us something, they should be willing to back it 100%.

Because we often think this way, we end up believing that we have to prove ourselves as well to our friends and even to our God.  And, if we are going to prove ourselves, we’d best prove ourselves in a big way because, as we have already established, the bigger, the better.

I can imagine God chuckling and saying, “When are my children ever going to learn?”  He doesn’t want huge and mighty.  He just wants us — in all our simplicity.  Hey, we are puny and insignificant.  The sooner we realize that, the better off we will be.  There is nothing that we can do for our God that our God cannot do on His own.  The best gift that we can give to our God, quite honestly, is our very selves, as they say, warts and all.

When we can embrace the fact that God doesn’t expect greatness from us, we can turn to Him in simplicity and give Him ourselves.  The miracle about that is God will accept our simple gift, turn it around, and make it great.  How many saints have we desired to emulate because of their courage, their witness, or their example in the face of strife?  They did not set out to be considered great.  They set out to give themselves to the Lord and allowed the Lord to use them as He saw fit.

Greatness is not in ourselves.  Simplicity is within ourselves.  Greatness resides only in our God.  He, in turn, may grant us greatness if we give Him our simple selves.

FAITH ACTION:  Ask the Lord to give you a simple heart today so that you may relish all that He does for you.