DAY 3 -

"Simplicity is making the journey of life with just baggage enough."  Charles Dudley Warner

I can relate to what Mary explained as the "trappings of American life."  She struggled trying to pack her entire existence into suitcases as they accepted the challenge to move as missionaries to Africa.  I wonder if the real struggle was actually in down sizing or if it was the reality of poverty when they arrived?

I spent a week this year in Nairobi and the level of poverty took my breath away.   It is embarrassing to walk into a remote village with designer clothes, Oakley sunglasses, and the latest nike running shoes... where the children have to walk two hours across wild terrain just to attend school... where the woman have to draw water each day from a dirty mud pit miles away from their homes... where the men have a few goats and a cow to support their family with.  I understand the internal struggle Mary speaks of which is why this devotional topic is so important.

"Everything hinges upon maintaining the 'first' thing as first." Richard J. Foster

Matthew 6:25-33

For me.. SIMPLICITY confronted the complexity in my life with this statement after returning home from Africa... "They do so much with so little.  What am I doing with so much?"  What is it that SIMPLICITY is confronting in your life?  I assure you, the struggle is great, the confrontation is intense, but the result is elementary.  You will find yourself at the "first" in what Matthew points to those seeking, and searching for the heart of God.