Every year I am somewhat *shocked* to enter Holy Week. So much time is spent on reflection, prayer and service during lent then all of a sudden we are thrust into the hectic and chaotic time of Holy Week. Extra worship services, special events, planning Easter activities and most of it so far removed from anything that has to do with the Resurrection! Easter bunnies, egg hunts, special sales........ ugh! Can I just stay in the wilderness and BE!? Even our worship services have become a blend of secular activities and 'play' in order to make Christianity more comfortable for everyone. (I'm sure I will step on toes with that comment).
This is our world. This is our day to day. There is always something going on, a new event to plan for, a special family get together to organize and a myriad of things competing for our time. The desire to simplify burns so deep within me. Yet my work is all online, I rely on social media and sales to pay bills. How does one balance that conflict? I depend on the very things that make me crazy! It all comes back to my spiritual condition. Yet I contribute to other people's quest for more stuff in my desire to cut back. I urge people to buy, use the products I sell while my desire to have less is foremost in my life. The circle goes around. We all need to have clothes, food and shelter. Every season for this last year I have reduced 'things' in my life. Fewer clothes, simpler food choices and less clutter around my home. At least I choose to sell a product that takes very little space, it is a beauty item so in high demand in our society and it pays bills. It is certainly not a 'need' but it is a 'want' for many, so I continue. I guess a saving grace in working Direct Sales is that I know this business is providing for women on my team in powerful ways that haven't been available through conventional jobs. Single moms overcoming addiction and building a REAL business for themselves and their children. Stay at home moms able to nurture and care for their children yet paying bills when the normal jobs wouldn't allow them to work from home. Retirees making a steady income when the government and our society takes so much away from them. The struggle continues- and I live that struggle every day. My faith in God, my strong belief in prayer and the saving grace and sacrifice of Jesus that have nothing to do with programs, activities and entertainment - that is my Holy Week.
Today I'm drawn back to this scene and how Jesus must have felt - not much has changed!
Mark 11:15-17 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple a marketplace. He said to them, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have turned it into a den of thieves."
This blog is my own opinion- not about judgment. I'm constantly on a quest for a simple, faith-filled life with God. For now I rely on the world around me to sustain that in material ways. I long for the day when I reach that simplicity, to pay off what we owe, to downsize and not be slaves to house maintenance and leaving a burden of 'things' behind for our child and grandchildren. I will continue on the retail treadmill in order to do those things. Not to acquire more (though that is a goal for some) for me it is a quest for less.
May your Holy Week have a least a little time for Jesus, his message of hope and the love of God.
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