Recently I was showing my eldest son how to load the dishwasher. “First, take each dirty item and rinse it under hot water, making sure any excess food is removed. Then find the most suitable place for it in the dishwasher. Do the same for everything else, making sure you put the plates at the bottom and the cups at the top…”
The instructions went on and on. I realised after that I had made a fairly simple task enormously overcomplicated.
We humans are experts in making the simple complicated. In the home, at work, in social settings, we find ways to overthink problems and hypothesise about what ‘might’ happen in a myriad of scenarios. Modern workplaces are now full of lengthy documents on how to use your work email correctly, what height your desk needs to be at and how long you are allowed to stand up for each day. What would previous generations think of all this?
Even in the spiritual life, we can easily fall into the trap of overcomplicating things, perhaps believing that only a relentless study of theology or philosophy accompanied by copious amounts of reading will give us the knowledge to solve all our problems.
It’s true that sometimes life can be pretty complicated. There are times when we are faced with challenging moral dilemmas that don’t seem to have an easy, uncomplicated, solution.
Yet, if we return to the words of Jesus, he reminds us to keep our focus on Him alone:
“Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.’” (Luke 10:38-42).
That one thing, of course, is Jesus, whose words are “spirit and life” (John 6:63). What more could anyone need?
In 2014, the late Pope Francis reiterated Jesus’ words, warning against making things more complicated than necessary, saying:
“These are the two conditions in order to follow Jesus – hear the word of God and put it into practice. This is the Christian life, nothing more.”[i]
Next time you feel like life is getting too complicated, take a moment to remind yourself of the mandate given by Jesus and extended by Pope Francis. It’s that simple.
Further Reading
Minimalism, simplicity, and the ‘one thing necessary’ (Melbourne Catholic)
Simplicity and wholeness (Diocese of Darwin)
Image: Lightstock
Words: Matthew Biddle
[i] https://www.ewtnnews.com/vatican/dont-overcomplicate-the-christian-life-pope-francis-warns