A Constantly Polished Gem

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Simplicity is not reached by taking the path of least resistance. Nor is simplicity a matter of ignoring what is inconvenient or avoiding a careful analysis of a situation. We don’t start from simplicity, simplicity is what we get closer to during the ongoing process of winnowing out the unnecessary from the essential. Simplicity is like a closet where we have discarded clothes we no longer need or find appealing from clothes we keep because they still serve a useful purpose and we still find them attractive.

Our faith is not made simple by saying (or singing), “Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me.” Our faith is made simple by a lifetime of evaluating and choosing what is genuine for us intellectually and spiritually. One does not arrive at a point in a faith journey where he or she can say with certainty, “I have finally arrived.” Faith is a gem that is constantly polished to greater clarity and simplicity by the application of the mind and heart.

Albert Schweitzer, the German theologian, organist, philosopher, doctor and medical missionary, once said, “From native simplicity we arrive at more profound simplicity.” Profound simplicity is not the simplicity of the infant who knows nothing of the world, it is the simplicity of one who has seen the complexity of the world and refined from it what is true, just and lasting. Profound simplicity is the ongoing work of a lifetime.

David James Madden