The Gift of Simple Things

The Single photo taken during our visit... simple, yet beautiful. 

The song is called Simple Gifts.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Simple Things

Why does everything have to be so complex these days?

Why is simple not so appealing?

To pause, to rest, to simply contemplate the simple gifts of life. 

As the words of the song convey, “Tis a Gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free”

How can we embrace simplicity?

By pausing, and looking around and seeing the simple blessings that surround you and me. 

The caress of the breeze, the colors you can see in nature when you walk.

To embrace the silence rather than feel the compulsion to talk. 

To listen, to hear, to really try to understand, that simple gifts really do abound. 

Embrace the freedom of simplicity. 

Make it a gift, make it a purpose, make it your aim. 

As the words of the song proclaim, “To turn, turn will be our delight, Till by turning, turning we come round right.”

Today we took a trip to the mountains of North Georgia to see our sons.  It was parent’s weekend at their college.  Spring was in full swing, the trees were varying shades of verdant green, the breeze was delightful and the little college town was full of folks enjoying the lovely day.  I packed a picnic for us to partake in a particularly nice park. We chose a spot to eat right by the flowing creek.  The water babbled like a muted song, the wind gave the melody of nature singing its sweet melody.  The lull of the people around us enjoying the day made the symphony of this day quite great.  As we sat to partake of the sandwiches and goodies that I prepared, I looked around the table at my boys (well, three of them out of our 4 boys) and thought what a blessing it was to be able to take this moment. I thought of the song by Joseph Brackett, “Simple Gifts." One of my resolutions for this year was to take very few pictures.  I would rather make memories. So on this trip I took exactly one photo. To keep in my memory. The focus was not on the pictures but the people, the beautiful setting, the breeze, the comfort of conversation.   Recently, I have been guilty of scrolling through reels. Those snippet shots of videos that are but a small bit of time.  Why?  I don’t know.  Probably trying to fill a small gap of time between tasks. I often wonder if our society has become hesitant to have some times of boredom? That might be why I watched so many reels.   As I watched these videos I noticed that many folks were doing reels about how glamorous their life is.  Their physical possessions, their cars, etc.  Most of these are probably not real.  As I continued to think about these reels I remembered a place in the mall that I saw recently.  I know, who goes to the mall, right? I am sure lots of folks go,  I do not visit a lot but it was a rainy day and we were trying to find something to do on the dreary day.  There is a shop in the mall that is dedicated to selfies with “glamorous life” backgrounds. At first I thought okay, it is the glamor shots of the 2020’s.  Today I thought, could this be a symptom of not knowing or seeing the simple gifts in our life? As this idea began to flesh itself out in my mind, I started to look around for the simple gifts.  We had a bit of a walk to get back to our car.  Me, being the shortest, always trails along in the back. My legs don’t have the long gait of my grown sons and husband. As I looked at them in front of me, I felt blessed for the simple gift that they are all in my life. They love the family and that we can fellowship together.  That evening at home, I started to walk around the house and contemplate the simple gifts that surround our lives. A favorite coffee mug, a favorite chair in which to sit. A rocking chair that can sit and listen to the singing of the birds. A comfy blanket that you always love to use. A favorite food, a good friend, a wonderful song that gives you hope. My husband's simple gift? Costco hot dogs. He wants me to write a blog post about it. That is his simple thing that he looks forward to each week. Life is so much built on the complex.  Let’s try to make it simple.  It might just be for the best.  “Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, twill be in the valley of love and delight.” Beautiful words.  Beautiful purpose. Simple, yet profound. Let us find the simple gifts in our life so that when we turn we will find ourselves in a place of love and delight.