Joy in the Simple Things

        Reading is one of the ways to settle my spirit.  I love learning from others.  One of my favorite books is Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner, her view of the burdens we carry is this:

It only takes one visit to a third world country to understand how far I’ve gone off course.

It takes only one glimpse of the happy sparkle in the eyes of a chocolate woman laughing as she dyes fabric with calloused hands to know I do not understand joy.

It takes only one visit to a roomful of sex trafficking survivors singing, dancing as they chop avocados for guacamole to know I do not understand gratitude.

It takes only one peek at a child’s singular toy, a helicopter made from a trashed cell phone minutes card and a lollipop stick, to know I do not understand creativity.

We are clothed.  We are fed. We are sheltered. We are stressed?

We are weary.  We have burdened ourselves with an inordinate amount of possessions, packed social calendars, busy work schedules-loads that are far too heavy for us to carry-and yet we grip them with clenched hands.  

Matthew 6:26 says “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 then they?”

Ask a bird how to fly, and it might tell you to remove the weight from your wings.

     These sweet Guatemalan ladies have just received a stove with a vent that takes the smoke outside.  Such joy on their faces and in their hearts as they make and share the first tortillas from the stove.  

        Can we be this happy over something in our lives as simple as this?