Celebrating SimplicitySample

Chaos Versus Calm

The Bible begins with God bringing order out of chaos in the creation of the world. Even today God continues to work in the formless, empty darkness of our lives to bring the order of his kingdom to birth in them.

Years ago I copied down a quote by French theologian François Fénelon: “When we notice in ourselves eager desires for something in the future, and when we see that our temperament carries us too intensely to all that must be done, let us try to restrain ourselves from hurry, and ask our Lord to stop the haste in our hearts and the agitation of our behavior, since God has said Himself that His Spirit does not dwell in confusion.” Ouch!

While we could talk about this idea under the discipline of simplicity, it also involves the discipline of fasting. We cannot live a healthy life if we stuff our calendars with unlimited activity. One of the ways to partner with God in bringing order out of the chaos of our lives is to say no to (fast from) doing more activities than we can sanely accomplish in a day or week. We need to fast from the idea that we will miss out on something if we don’t say yes to everything! Jesus himself walked away from some people and situations to keep the priorities of prayer and the kingdom of God first in his life.

We are finite. We cannot do everything, we are not called to do everything, but we are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

From Spiritual Disciplines Devotional by Valerie E. Hess.