Being, Not Doing

This is the first in a series highlighting the simple and the sacred.

I think there is a place for both the simple and the sacred in our lives. 

The challenge is that we can forget to take time to experience the simple pleasures of life or feel we should have grown beyond them. A simple pleasure or task is something that is easy to understand – no demanding thinking or figuring on this one. 

The other challenge is that we can become rooted in how we believe connecting to God should look. This can preclude learning and growing in our relationship with him. The word and concept of sacred, simply means that something is connected to God or dedicated to a spiritual purpose. 

So for the next set of blogs, I will highlight either a simple pleasure or a sacred practice. I hope these will be an encouragement to you, and help you experience God in some vibrant and delightful ways. 

Today’s blog highlights the simple pleasures. 

We've forgotten the small things, haven’t we? Like how to sit and watch a butterfly…or how to roll down a hill faster and faster. Instead, we've learned to produce. In fact, we've learned it so well we all agree it is necessary, even if at times we agree reluctantly. 

What we haven't learned is how to sometimes be childlike in this adult world. We haven't learned when to forget results…and goals…and just marvel at being. 

For God so often is more concerned about our “being”, than our doing. 

In fact, Scripture invites us to delight in God, and to delight in God’s creation, so that we can taste and see that the Lord is good. 

“Being” requires time to pause, to engage, to use our senses to experience the moment. 

God gives us beauty and joy to experience our natural world – to see Him – to recognize and “taste” his goodness and his grace. 

When I think of simple pleasures and their delight, I think of Sunday afternoons as a young girl. My parents would take me and my brother to Averill Park in San Pedro, CA to play. 

When I saw the image online of the Park’s stone bridge and the children playing in the stream, a flood of memories came back: running over the bridge, skipping rocks, and getting our feet wet. 

Even dipping a makeshift pole in the water to see if we could catch fish! 

Simple pleasures. 

Magical memories. 

Memories of fun and delight. 

We remember them wistfully…yet we often fail to engage in such fun again as adults. 

Perhaps taking time for a few simple pleasures can remind us that God is still at work in us and through us; that God wants us to delight in him, and delight in life, and enjoy the beauty of his world through our relationship with him. 

Perhaps a few simple pleasures will remind us that God is good and gracious. And that He holds us in the palm of his hand, even in the midst of uncertain times.

How might God be inviting you to take time to experience a simple pleasure?

Is there something you did years ago that you’ve wanted (perhaps even secretly) to try once again? 

Can you give yourself permission to take a break and enjoy?