Loving Simply

“Live simply so that others may simply live.”

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

I was excited by the prospect of living simply. My experiences in university service programs and studying abroad with CASA helped me learn that living simply is much more than renouncing possessions. Yes, that means even the pillar that seems the most straightforward transcends the material and so confuses, challenges and astounds us. Because my environment was not necessarily simple (cue college flashback), my understanding of simplicity focused on intentionality. I tried (and often failed) to practice simple living in my time and thoughts. By and large, I couldn´t control how much food we wasted in the cafeteria, how much money we spent on alcohol, how many all-nighters we pulled, or how much time we spent ¨plugged in.¨ I could, however, be present to every blessed moment. I fell in love with the present and so fell in love with life itself.

Entering JVC international, the opportunity to push my boundaries excited me. I looked forward to the clarity and joy that accompanies living simply materially. I wanted to go without in the hope that my small sacrifice would serve another. I also felt readier to meet some of the demands and challenges of an intentionally simple lifestyle. I did not expect an entirely new understanding of simple living to open up to me so soon.

To live simply means to rejoice simply because you are God´s child and therefore have a home in heaven.

I arrived at this understanding while arriving to my home here in-country. (And, yes, after being here four months I am still arriving.)In the totally disorienting process that is arriving, joy cannot be contingent upon a thing, a skill or a person. We cannot even lean upon our passions, commitments or missions. Even those fall as our understanding of what it means to be a JV (of life itself) is, often comically, tossed to the wayside. While we walk along our paths with unsteady footsteps, we often carry a the-grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side feeling. If we could only walk a little further, we could make it home. We could find a place of comfort, security, happiness, peace… and rejoice in the accomplishment of reaching a finish line.

How God must smile upon us, Her children. This notion of progress that we pilgrims with unsettled desires look to is funny. Surely God laughs with us!  We are always at home because our names are already written in heaven (Lk 10:12). And so we always have reason to rejoice! If we could rejoice in our glorious home, if we could want and need nothing more, we could truly live simply. When we rejoice in our glorious home, we believe that we need nothing more than what we already have. So a simple life is a life of faith. We live simply when we allow ourselves to live and breathe and having our being (how God created us).

When we ¨live simply so that others may simply live¨ we are giving—not giving up. We are giving others the space to have their being. We also live simply when we rejoice simply because another person is a child of God. This person also has a home in heaven. She is my sister. He is my brother. When we love the people around us simply because they are children of God, we allow them to just be. This love is simple but powerful. It is challenging too. It is challenging to love another person for no virtue of her own. Our ideas of value and worth are so dependent upon productivity. I´m often alarmed by how deeply this misconception about love is buried within me…. and how quick I am to put it to practice. When we love simply we liberate our brothers and sisters because we give them the freedom to be themselves. We accompany them in their joy when we rejoice together in their beauty and Grace. We recognize the Divine in the person standing in front of our dumbfounded faces. Living simply means loving simply.

Allowing simple love to animate our lives is an act of faith. When we love simply, we let go and lose ourselves in the service of others. And then we find ourselvesd sitting down to break bread alongside our brothers and sisters… together in our home in heaven. Is there a better place to find yourself?