Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Dear God,

A simple, peaceful quiet life. That's what I tell people when they ask me about retirement. Is such a life possible? Simplicity, not complicated or complex. Simple things, simple food, simple living. Peaceful, the absence of conflict, an environment of peacefulness. Quiet, no TV, radio or sound-making equipment, a vast solitude allowing natural sounds to be heard. A simple, peaceful, quiet life, that's what I want.

But none of this is possible without you. You are the author of simplicity, peace, and solitude. You instruct the universe to live in peace and harmony. You have allowed us to create with you technological wonders making life more efficient and resourceful. But in the midst of these marvels, we have lost touch with the simple resources of life. We fill up with iPod music, computer visual screens filled with God knows what, television shows and more. Whatever happened to simple conversations between two people? Where did the desire go to get to know the inner depths of one another? Where did the ability disappear to to hold hands and walk in quiet? What happened to moments of just looking into each other's eyes and knowing love from the depths? Where did simple love go? Where is the capacity to just sit and wonder, allowing imagination to reign? Have we given up the simple for the complicated? Have we surrendered the natural for something plastic, vinyl and artificial? In the end what will we possess?

On days when my whole being is being changed, I wonder.

Lover of creation
I still pause
to give thanks
for the beauty
all around me.
I know
that a moment
spent with
your creation
is better
than a thousand
spent otherwise.
Keep my eyes
on the beauty
of life,
remembering how,
where, and
why that beauty
was created.
Help me
live in gratitude
for the simple,
the peaceful
and the quiet.

Love, Andrea