Simple Pleasures

Rejoice-in-Simple-PleasuresOur world offers a variety of options that were not available a few years ago.

A seemingly easy shopping list becomes complicated by the myriad of options available for each product, not to mention different brands. Orange juice alone comes pasteurized, fresh squeezed or from concentrate, frozen or not frozen, with a little, lot or no pulp, with or without fiber, organic or non organic, with or without calcium, and so on. A husband trying to pick up a few items at the store for his wife is doomed before he pulls into the Safeway parking lot.

Forget about naming your newborn after your favorite aunt. That is passé. If you want your baby to have the “right” name, better call a baby-name consultant who uses statistical data, phonetic analysis, and marketing research to come up with names complementing whatever ambitions parents have for their child. The philosophy is that if we pick the “right” names for our children, we are giving them an advantage over other children who don’t have the “right” names.

Today a woman has the option of freezing her eggs for future use. Some mothers have frozen their eggs for their infertile daughters. That means if a daughter uses her mother’s eggs and has a daughter, then the daughter she has would actually be her mother’s sister. But at least she won’t have to name the child. She can call a consultant. WOW! Life can get pretty complicated nowadays.

Like I said, today we have many options. Most options were probably created to make life easier, but that is not always the way it works out. Sometimes options leave us confused and make it difficult to make decisions. Which makes me think – have we lost our ability to appreciate simple pleasures?

God’s pleasures are simple ones. Nineteenth century English preacher Frederick William Robertson puts it this way:

“All God’s pleasures are simple ones;
the rapture of a May morning sunshine,
the stream blue and green,
kind words,
benevolent acts,
the glow of good humor.”

God has much to say about simple pleasures, although that exact phrase won’t be found in the Bible. He tells us to take joy in each new day (Psalm 118:24). He emphasizes contentment (Proverbs 30:8, 9; Hebrews 13:5). He loves unity not contentiousness (Psalm 133:1). He wants us to be kind and tenderhearted (Ephesians 4:32). He likes a good laugh (Numbers 22:25-31). He encourages us to get away occasionally to regroup and replenish (Matthew 14:23). He delights in children (Matthew 19:14). He paints analogous pictures that bring nature alive (Isaiah 55:12). His creation beckons us to marvel at majestic mountains, enjoy vibrant sunsets, smell fragrant roses, and calm ourselves beside still waters. Yet, some of us don’t even have time to name our own babies.

Life is filled with options. We make the choices. We can choose to enjoy some simple pleasures or not. But remember – life doesn’t always have to be complicated. After all, if we can’t decide which orange juice is best, we could just eat an orange.

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