Numbers and Other Simple Things

She asked me if I would tell her the weight of her baby.  It took me a moment to realize that she needed me to SAY how many kilograms her baby weighed--not just point to the number I had written on the child’s clinic card. She then turned to the other mama’s and had me read every person’s card so she could tell them the weight of their little one’s, too.  

This is the world we live in, this world where people do not know how to read, do not know numbers, and yet live a life that is just as important and precious as mine.  How simple life can be, and yet how complicated we make it.  This world that is harsh and unforgiving,  where life has no meaning, and where evil seems to coexist more than good.  Why have we taken the simplicity of love, life, good, and grace out of the every day?  How did we let gender define who gets to learn how to read words and numbers?  When did we let the color of skin determine how much worth a person has?  

I think my heart aches for the simple. I cry for the ones that have been left to starve because they are the lesser and smaller of two.  For the people on earth that are seeking to be loved and valued.  For the babies that are not wanted, and for the babies that are...for the desire to have a purpose in life.  

We have lost the simple things.  We have left the opportunity to love more, care more, help more, do more--for someone else.  We have stopped treating our neighbors the way we want to be treated, and have stopped loving our enemies.  Who is defending the orphans and widows?  We have forgotten our purpose.  We have forgotten our identities.  

My heart has been broken in so many ways, but through the hurt and trials, God heals it.  He gives a renewed purpose, new desires, new goals, he makes our complications simple.  He gives us all new identities, and makes life clear.   

It is simple to love.  It is simple to show grace.  It is simple to become new.  

Our challenges stem from our wants, needs, desires, and fears, but it’s time to change.  It’s time for all of us to say the numbers out loud.  What do we have to lose?  Change the everyday, change who you are, and change the world.  

Beautiful simplicity.