Less is More: A Life Transformed

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:16 -17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself." 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

To illustrate these verses, I am reminded of the butterfly...the symbol of freedom in Christ.

Before flight comes to the butterfly, it spends a previous life as something that even its mother wouldn’t recognize. The lowly caterpillar’s only concern is to munch its way in weight, crawling belly down on the earth to find a suitable twig to form its chrysalis. The caterpillar never reasons that it is about to undergo a total transformation. It doesn’t reason with itself that the time spent in darkness will transform it into a new creature. The caterpillar can’t even dream that its former self will never again resemble the snake-like belly crawling insect it once was. Having wings and flying has never occurred to it. Sprouting wings is as unfathomable to the caterpillar as we developing human wings ourselves. The caterpillar does what God intended it to do… never reasoning, never out guessing its Creator.

Instinct overcomes the creature and willingly, in the course of its time, it locates just the right spot to spin and dangle in darkness. When the chrysalis is complete it shuts itself up and begins a transformation that culminates in a life and death struggle for freedom. For transformation to occur...struggles always ensue. The lowly caterpillar is no exception. The following story illustrates what happens to the butterfly when the struggle was cut short...when the battle for freedom was taken up by outside forces:

One day a man found a cocoon. After several days of observation a small opening appeared and he sat and watched the butterfly for what seemed like several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. In doing so, it will be ready for flight once it has achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us. Our strengths would never be perceived. Not only that...we could never fly.

Living a more simplistic life, while multifaceted, must begin with allowing God to transform us. God’s grace begins in our lives when we surrender our own desires to Him. Like the caterpillar, we cannot muster the will power on our own, nor can we gain the wisdom from outside sources. Simplicity comes into our life not by a battered and bruised struggle; simplicity comes in when we are not even aware. A new since of wonder takes over. It profoundly seeps onto our personality. A changed personality...a changed lifestyle...comes from inner promptings. One might say that even our minds are renewed with a new awareness and thoughts.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2

The word "transformed" is translated from the Greek word "metamorphoo." It is from this word we get our transliterated English word, "metamorphose."

Simplicity begins with prayer. There is an intrinsic relationship between simplicity and prayer...and at the center of prayer is trust. Trusting that God will hear and will bring about the outcome according to what is His perfect will for our lives. As in the themes of the previous blogs, I touched on how trust becomes the center focus of our relationship with God. Trust, in our prayer life, moves us closer to understanding the complexities of living simply. Without a spirit of trust we would find it impossible to live on the basis of “our daily bread"...and a “just in case” mentality would rear its ugly head once more.

"Go confidently in the directions of your dreams; live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." - Henry David Thoreau

Anxiety's root is fear...and living simply is living free from anxiety. I also know that this is more easily said than done. I myself struggle with maintaining a balance of pleasing God and pleasing man. But this much I do know: everything in our culture strikes against the spirit of simple living. Our excessive materialistic training to acquire more and more keeps us in a constant battle with our spirit’s desire to live free from this burden. How then CAN we be free from the anxiety?

"Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6

Join me next time as we continue to unravel the mysteries of living simply.