Weekly Reflection: All Great Things are Simple

*This blog post is my "Weekly Reflection" sent to Christ Church parishioners and friends on Thursday, July 7.

As my family and I anticipate our move to Indianapolis, we are living in the midst of transition at home as well as at church. A significant part of our preparation for the beginning of my ministry at St. Paul's in August revolves around our house. Getting it ready to be on on the market has meant not only the completion of a few projects but also, and perhaps most importantly, cleaning out the accumulation of 12+ years of stuff. A sizeable portion of this stuff has been books. We have given away 20 boxes of books (and still have plenty more!).

Going through my books I found several volumes by or about Winston Churchill. I have most of these books in my collection thanks to Jane Palmer, a long time member of Christ Church and someone, along with her husband Don, I consider to be a dear friend. Jane and I shared a love of history and of Churchill and Harry Truman. Besides the books, I have a few other reminders of her in my collection that represent this common interest.

I need these reminders because Jane died last week. Beyond a sense of personal loss, I know that Jane's death is a loss for a broad community of people who have been touched by her -- her family, the citizens of North Hampton, students at the White Mountain School, Boston University, the Diocese of New Hampshire, to name only a few. She lived her life with a deep commitment to the common good and she shared that commitment with a feistiness that Winston Churchill would have appreciated.

I found this quote from Churchill that I believe Jane would have appreciated: "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."

We complicate life a great deal, don't we? Well, perhapps I should speak only for myself. Too often, I forget that what matters in life and what makes a difference in this world is really very simple. When it comes down to it, what matters is being true to ourselves, our communities, our families, and our God. If we do this, we make the world a better place.

I think I would add faith and love to Churchill's list. What would you add?

(Since sending this out to parishioners, here is what has been added to the list: charity, memory, friendship, knowledge, and compassion)