Simplicity
One thing I love about both the Catholic and Jewish
traditions is how connected both are to real, touchable,
material life. Evangelical/Protestant Christianity so often
severs the connection between sacred and material, but I
believe that’s both an artificial and an unhelpful dichotomy.
What we own, what we touch, what we carry: these things
matter. What we surround ourselves with, how we regard
our material possessions and our physical selves: these
things matter.
I’ve always known this, but I’m learning it in all new
depths this season. As I’ve been aching for simplicity inside
myself—in my heart, in my spirit—I’ve been surprised to
find how much simplifying my material world has created
space not just around me, but inside me.
In preparation for a long international trip recently, I
packed pink and red and blue shirts, jeans, leggings, boots.
And even though I dragged a rainbow of clothes halfway
across the world, every morning, all I wanted to wear was
white, black, gray, and blue. The same is generally true at
home—I always feel most comfortable in neutrals and blues,
and my friends tease me about how often I wear stripes—
navy and white, black and white, over and over.