So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. – Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NRSVUE)
What are you doing for Lent this year? Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. Traditionally Lent is a time for cutting back. It is a time to focus on prayer, giving to the poor, and repentance. This is usually done through giving up something or taking on something. I generally prefer to think of it as taking on a spiritual practice, either through doing something additional or through the spiritual practice of restraint from doing something I usually do. As I write this, I have not yet made a decision about what I might personally take on this year. What I find myself pondering so far is how to tell what counts as “essential.”
I do not think we humans are good at distinguishing what is essential from what is comfortable. Certainly we are able to say that the absolute essentials are food, clothing, housing, and supportive relationships. Yet I find that people quickly add other things that are functionally essential. Cell phones, for instance, are necessary for many jobs and services. In a sense they are essential if we are to participate in the society around us. Once you start adding that, pretty quickly we add all kinds of other things that we cannot imagine our lives without.
On the one hand, we should be able to appreciate joy in life that we find through non-essential works. Joy and compassion are about abundance, not what is minimally essential. Yet on the other hand, Jesus’ teachings include radical simplicity, relying solely on God. How do we hold the two together? It seems to me that taking the time to recognize what is truly essential allows us to appreciate all the more the things in our life that are not essential. It allows us to see them as true blessings in our life. Beyond that, seeing so much of our life as blessing allows us to hold those things less tightly, not as essential but as good. When we do that, we can more easily be grateful for them. We can also let them go more easily and be more willing to share. At the same time, being willing to cut back from some good things opens space in our lives for other things. The greatest joys are things that cannot easily be named but are experienced as abundance: loving relationships, creative time, doing something for the sake of others, depth of prayer. We are only able to truly experience these things joyfully when we have sufficient simplicity in our lives to have space for the unquantifiable nature of these blessings.
In Deuteronomy 10, God’s law is summed up as loving God with your heart and soul. It is further emphasized that doing this is not simply a matter of unthinkingly following the rules, but rather that when God is the center of our actions our overall well-being is improved. To live with passionate love for God and others as central to the basic essentials of life is to live with enough space to live joyfully. It gives room for care, creativity, and the giving and receiving of love. That is a wonderful life. This is the goal of following God’s ways; to make room for joy. Whatever I end up doing for Lent, making room for joy is the goal. It is not about being dour or distant, but rather clearing space for our own joy and wellbeing.