In today's Gospel, Jesus sends his disciples two by two, to preach the word of God. He tells them to only take the cloak on their back and the sandals on their feet. They were to go to a house and if they were invited in, preach, and if they were turned away, leave. Jesus sent them out in a simple way and with almost nothing, as to not to worry about do they have this, and that, much like we do when we pack for a vacation. Do we have the phone charger, did I pack my swim suit, etc... And to top it all off, Fr. John's message to the students was to be simple. For the more we have, the more we have to worry about, and that takes our mind off of God and His message. Fr. John says why bring 100 pencils to school when you only need one. Having so many pencils means one has to worry about not losing them.
If you have read any of my past blogs, you will know that I am a true believer that God sends thoughts into my head and then later just brings the thought home, and today was no different. You see, as the season is starting to change, so is my wardrobe. It is time to trade in the short sleeve shirts and shorts, and time to dust off the long pants, sweaters, and jackets. And every year as we go from Summer to Fall, I will take inventory of the summer clothes I have not worn, for the entire summer, and bag them up and donate them to Goodwill. I usually do this over my Fall Break, and vice versa, do the same at Spring Break, with the winter clothes I did not wear over the winter.
As you can imagine, with the nice cool mornings and evenings over the last few days, the thought of doing my summer clothing donation has jumped into my head, about a hundred times over the last week or so. And yet today, the Gospel passage, and Fr. John's message to be simple, was proof, to me that is, that God wants me to make the wardrobe change.
I tell that long story because there are many times in my life that I do not believe I can hear God talking to me, especially when I am struggling. I pray and pray and pray, waiting for a sign, or a simple conversation and I do not hear nary a thing. Not one iota of a conversation. But guess what, I do not hear it, not because it is not there, but because my life is so crowded with things that there is to much muck to wade through before I can even think about what God wants me to do.
So it is my sincere hope to start to simplify the thoughts in my head, the busyness of the day, the have to do this and that, etc. I have to simplify those things, like I simplify my wardrobe every year. When I simplify, it rids me of the clutter that blocks my path to God's Kingdom. So maybe, just maybe, one day, God will send me two by two, to spread his word.
It is simple, SIMPLIFY!!!
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