"The simple things remain....."

"I'll light the fire
You place the flowers in the vase
That you bought today..."

Mmmm....flowers in a vase,  a fire, and windows illuminated with evening light....such simple pleasures from simple things.  This song gently nips at the heels of my busy-ness.  Whenever life seems too complicated, and wading through a jungle of choices overwhelms me, I can always count on the sound of a song, like Crosby, Stills, and Nash singing "Our House," to soften the sharp edges of the insistent  "okay, but when...," weed out the bramble of "too much again,"and carve out a neat space of "Thy will be done" for me to curl up, and nest in.   

This is the space of deep peace and satisfaction.  In this simple room of simple thoughts, all the "stuff" that claims to have meaning...all that clamors for importance...fades  into the periphery, and what really matters takes center stage on the blank canvas of a de-cluttered consciousness. 

As my husband once shared with me:

"‎The simplicity of the Christ untangles the complexity of human affairs."

This afternoon, I have been cherishing the untangled, the uncluttered...the simple things that, as Jim Brickman sings in his song of the same title,  remain.   This poem is my heart's longing....in words:


I yearn for
simplicity...

precisely placed
goodness,
positioned by
a divine hand,

a small house,
clean windows
a few
books
water, sunlight,
and silence...
white linens, an apple,
and
unmeasured hours
filled with
love and honesty,
paper and
ink

words
written
thoughtfully,
beautifully,
simply,
with care...

I hunger for
the falling away
of all that
distracts and
complicates

Free from
the want of
more

living
in the space
of God-graced
thoughts

walking in the
path of
a holy
purpose

to be
completely,
fully,
wholly
satisfied

where
less
is
not more...
but All,
in all. 


May your hours be filled with simple things....and love, always with Love,


Kate
Kate Robertson, CS

[photo credit: Clara Oyer Robertson Cooper 2010]