Thursday, November 7, 2013

Easy Does It

  
     Sometimes, (okay, most of the time) I just want things to be easy. I like simple, uncomplicated, no-fuss. I do make exceptions (especially when it comes to party planning) but for the most part, I just want things to be easy.

   I like to make crafts, and I have some rules. To be easy it:
  1. Can't take more than about an hour (somehow I have equated easy with instant gratification)
  2. Can't require a sewing machine (mostly because I don't have one because I couldn't use mine, so I returned it!)
  3. Can't involve drawing or painting (other than just actually covering an object with paint-if you want the paint to look like something, say a person, I am *not* your girl.)
  4. Can't require anything that I can't find at Target/Hobby Lobby/ The Dollar Tree or a combination of the three.

I also have some rules about cooking. To be easy it:
  1. Needs to take me less than 30 minutes to put it together. I don't care how long it has to cook-in my oven, on the stovetop or in the crock pot, but I don't want to prep it for more than 30 minutes.
  2. Preferably it is cooked in my crock pot, because I don't need to attend to that in any way.
  3. It can't require weird ingredients-especially spices I don't keep on hand. Like coriander, or cumin. Or pretty much anything that isn't taco seasoning or Italian spices.
  4. It shouldn't require a thermometer. Candy, meat or otherwise. Those things hate me!
 I also have some rules about technology. To be easy it:
  1. Needs to have explicit directions that my 5 year-old will understand. It should not include any type of instructions beyond: copy this, paste it here. 
  2. It should pretty much be something I can do on my iPhone. See above. 
    Are you picking up on what I'm putting down? To me, easy equals proficiency, and clearly, that is limited on my part. I don't like to be out of my comfort zone, I don't necessarily like to learn new things. I hate to admit it, but it is true. However, that doesn't seem to be the life God has called me to.  And then, I read things like this:

"He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."
 Ephesians 2, roughly verse 10, (the Message)

      God's work is simple-but it is not easy. Getting up every morning, schooling my kids, being kind when I don't feel like, doing laundry, making dinner-those concepts aren't complicated, but sometimes they are beyond easy. And sometimes He calls us to even bigger things- weathering a serious illness, or death, working on the mission field, heading up a major project. And those are even more complicated! But that is when I have to remind myself: this is what I was created for. Maybe those things are not always monumental, but they are important. 

   When I consider salvation- it is so simple! Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. But it certainly wasn't easy:

  Going a little ahead, He (Jesus) fell to the ground and prayed for a way out: “Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?”
Mark 14:35-36 (The Message)

    I will be honest- I had forgotten that I was searching in The Message (I use www.biblegateway.com for my translation work, if you were wondering.) when I looked this up. And when I read it, it just blows me away. "Not what I want-what do YOU want, Father?". Oh, for that to be my heart. That I would quit longing for easy, and long instead for simplicity: to simply be what God wants me to be. Trusting that He will provide all I need- that instead of my proficiency, I would rely on His provision. Instead of my competency, I would trust His compassion. Then, I think I will be surprised. Because then won't it really be so much more easy?

2 comments:

  1. I loved this. Many of our rules are similar. I always say things like, "When cooking there's a few terms I avoid like the plague.....'double boiler', 'candy thermometer', and 'let rise.' And actually I prefer my recipes to have 5 ingredients or fewer. Totally there with you on the spices. Nobody keeps 'liquid smoke' on hand - it's just a fact.

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  2. I like easy, too!! And I couldn't help but LOL BIG time when I read your rules for cooking - we are SO THE SAME!!!! =)

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