Choosing Simplicity – Br. Keith Nelson
Matthew 6:24-34
The life to which Jesus calls us is essentially simple. In what does that simple life consist? The simple life – the life of the kingdom – consists in the abundant awareness that everything we receive is a gift that we did not earn or purchase; in the recognition that life itself is the first of all gifts; in the trust that our basic needs will be met; in the generosity that allows us to be the means by which God meets the needs of others; and in the capacity to surrender our inevitable craving for what we do not need.
Worrying is one behavior that leads to increased complexity of life, the labyrinthine complexity of misdirected anxiety. But this particular admonition not to worry is made more specific by a very clear statement: You cannot serve God and wealth. The incapacity to surrender our craving for what we do not need results in service to the wrong Master. And the tiny links in the chain with which that Master binds his unsuspecting devotees are worries. Restless hope of acquisition on the one hand, and undue fear for the security of what we have acquired on the other, results in a zig-zag of interior energy moving in the wrong direction: away from God.
As men who live under vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience, we have committed ourselves to “striving first for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” in a radical way. On an external level, this particular version of the Christian vocation entails much letting go and doing without: of spouse, children, a household of our own, and a significant measure of individual autonomy, to name only the most significant sacrifices. But as we know very well, these things comprise only the outermost concentric circle in a life of progressive dispossession for the sake of the kingdom. We discover whole hordes of interior possessions, guarded tooth and nail by dragons who feed on our thoughts. In short, we are tempted to worry all over again – perhaps even to justify our worry spiritually.
This is not a new struggle. In the late fourth century, the monastic theologian John Cassian soberly observed that it is impossible to stop the basic momentum of our thoughts, including the energy of what we would today call anxiety. He writes:
[The] activity of the heart may be compared to millstones, which the swift rush of the waters turns with a violent revolving motion. As long as the waters’ force keeps them spinning they are utterly incapable of stopping their work, but it is in the power of the one who supervises to decide whether to grind wheat or barley or to grind empty husk.
In the same way, the mind cannot be free from agitating thoughts during the trials of the present life, since it is spinning around in the torrents of the trials that overwhelm it from all sides. But whether these will be either refused or admitted into itself will be the result of its own zeal and diligence.
Cassian, like Jesus, points toward an essential facet of our vocation as Christians: working toward becoming agents rather than victims of our interior life. As “loving, disciplined, and free” men, Jesus calls us to grow in the daily and hourly choice to grind the wheat of trust rather than the empty husk of worry. We are human beings, not goldfinches or irises. We will experience anxiety. But our anxiety need not define us in the least. We are defined by the liberating service of God.
What strikes me most here is the image of the millstones. I cannot stop the water from flowing, I cannot stop the stones from grinding, but I may be able to exercise some control over which substance is being ground.
This analogy reminds me of the old dog/wolf story: you can either feed the dog or feed the wolf, but you’re going to be feeding one of them. Here, you can either grind wheat or grind empty husk but don’t waste your time and energy trying to prevent the grinding of the stones or the rushing of the water; that’s not going to happen.
What a helpful reminder ….what I have control over and what I don’t.Thank you .
Thank you, Br Keith, for the Thanksgiving message of freedom. Your last two sentences already lift my interior spirits; that phrase, “in the least”, gives an extra ‘punch’ to the liberation.
When Jesus said “you will always have the poor with you” He was not renouncing His listeners’ obligation to love their neighbor. Instead, He was redirecting their attention to Him and the message He was bringing. This scripture from Matthew is also speaking to each of us individually and assuring us that He will take care of us. We can trust in Him; both in respect to having our needs met and in respect to what He is calling each of us to do.
Some might be called to travel to Gaza to minister to the suffering or to direct our attention to the suffering all around us. All most of us need to do is trust God and reach out to our next door neighbor, who, like everyone else is struggling with their internal demons. To give up everything includes our time and attention. When I am ministering to another, in my own house or across the world, there is not room enough in my mind for anxiety about my own worries.
Thank you Brother Keith, Rick Porter
Dear Brothers,
I simply wanted to thank you for these sermons and reflections of yours. They are tremendously helpful to those of us who are trying to come closer to God but are held back by our weaknesses.Your words are greatly appreciated.
If this is the truth: ” everything we receive is a gift that we did not earn or purchase;” why do people here today in the USA experience so vast a difference in provision? Why do some have a super, super abundance and others struggle below the poverty line? Sounds like monastic wish fulfillment to me
The opposite of worry is trust in God. When I start to picture a bad outcome, I force myself to picture the good outcome instead. It takes serious mental discipline, but it is doable.
This scripture reading always gives me a great deal of trouble because I know that no matter how trusting they may wish to be, the parents in Gaza will watch their children starve and die as will other parents around the world. People that I know personally struggle to pay debt from health problems that leave them unable to work. People with poorly paid jobs never have enough to provide adequate food and clothing for their families no matter how hard they work. For these people, the answer to anxiety about what to eat and what to wear will have to be a different one.
I have had many similar ruminations. Jesus came that we might become the kind of creatures who would not allow such things. And yet… we do. Greed, ignorance, and disbelief keeps our world lashed to such horrors. We must continue to work, pray, give, teach and walk humbly with our Creator GOD so as to change as much of this suffering as possible, and to bring so much light into the darkness that it can no longer exist. ❤️
Thanks to Covid ,My life is much more simple and brings me closer in touch God .
‘the tiny links in the chain with which the Master binds his unsuspecting devotees are worries’ Brilliant. Exactly what I was letting him do to me this morning – over a tech issue if you can believe it. I know that is not the abundant life my true Master wishes to gift to me. Thank you so much for re-orienting me this day Br Keith. Elizabeth Hardy+
Once again holy words of deep wisdom. A gift indeed.
“Interior Dragons” is an image, and a spiritual and psychological concept, that will stick with me, and I hope, help me choose what grist to mill (another helpful analogy).
Interior Dragons would also be an awesome name for a punk-rock band.
I second the name of “Interior Dragons”for a punk rock band.
It is a helpful image for one to consider as well for those spiritual and psychological forces within us.
Thanks to Keith and James!
-Marilyn