As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. -Mark 10:17-18
Seeker,
Who in your life dares to ask you to change?
Change!
Change!
I need your change!
From the recessed doorway
a voice calls out
to the bustling any-town street.
Shapes of purpose-full people
blur by—
unheeding , unseeing, unaware.
You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them. –Matthew 13:14-15
Change!
Change!
I need your change!
Captivated by the call,
a young student, open-hearted,
turns herself around.
With bright-eyed encouragement,
she addresses the bundled body
that cradles a crinkled cup.
“Don’t despair,
change is coming!
We are working for change!”
“I need your change!”
the voice persists
with urgency.
Blushing,
the kind student leans in.
“I’m sorry, you must be hungry!”
Thrusting a handful of coins
into the cup, she adds,
“Perhaps a sandwich, or another cup of coffee…?”
…and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple— truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ -Matthew 10: 42
To her great surprise,
the hooded head
slowly shakes in disappointment.
“No,
I need YOU
to change your life!”
…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8
It begins
with being just—
the path to holy living.
Looking, listening, asking,
with a readiness
to be turned around.
Yes, this world redeemed
needs yet to be reorganized,
by loving-with-your-sleeves-rolled-up.
Such feeding, healing, forgiving
Gospel work is a call
realized in kindness.
For justice
sees and celebrates
our kin in each and anything.
First be just! Next be kind!
But then we must change
much more than just our mind.
…and walk humbly with your God.
For sure
that third invitation
is the hardest turn of all.
But when I experienced the warm, unpretentious reception of those who have nothing to boast about, and experienced a loving embrace from people who didn’t ask any questions, I began to discover that a true spiritual homecoming means a return to the poor in spirit to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs. -Henri Nouwen
Live humbly,
simply, slowly!
Keep company with the lowly!
Declarations like these
we seldom see
engraved on marbled monuments.
Though it might sound straightforward,
such radical redirection
does not come easily at all.
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right. -ShakerTraditional
May you
content yourself with little,
and choose an uncomplicated life.
Share freely
all life’s blessings,
and you’ll be first to taste well-being.
And may we all learn to live small,
because large living is costing the earth—
a price paid dearly by the littlest lives of all.
…blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. -Matthew 13:16
What would it cost you today to live a little more simply?
joe