‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free

’tis the gift to come down where we ought to be

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

’twill be in the valley of love and delight.

Simple Gifts, traditional Shaker hymn

I don’t know that we think about where we ought to be much these days. Where we want to be, but not so much where we ought to be. Because where we want to be sounds like a lot more fun than where we ought to be. But what if that assumption is false? What if where we ought to be is someplace that fills our souls with peace and our hearts with joy?

I think we are where we ought to be more than we realize. We are there to open a door for someone else, wait with patience in the check-out line, read a bedtime story for the umpteenth time, or stand firm when the right thing to do is going to cost us.

The question is: do we notice when we are where we ought to be? Are we aware enough to feel the peace and joy that are ours in this place of ought to be?

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free

’tis the gift to come down where you ought to be

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

to bow and to bend we shan’t ashamed

to turn, turn will be our delight

’til by turning, turning we come round right.

Traditional Shaker Hymn

There have been many times in my life when I had to choose between seeking something I wanted for myself directly and seeking a way that offered something not quite what I wanted and something life-giving for those I love most in this world. When I’ve chosen the second path, it’s always held something unexpected, usually as intriguing and life-giving as the more obvious choice. What I got out of it was always enough.

I can’t say I’ve always chosen wisely, or been particularly gracious or thankful for the alternate path. I can say that I’ve lived a deeper, more sacred life – even though it may not look like what I originally imagined, wanted, or expected. I am grateful for the choice in the first place, and for God’s presence on my chosen path. Maybe the gift to be free is the blessing to choose until I end up where I ought to be…

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free

’tis the gift to come down where you ought to be

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

to bow and to bend we shan’t ashamed

to turn, turn will be our delight

’til by turning, turning we come round right.

Traditional Shaker hymn

‘Tis the gift to be simple…

…not simplistic. Simple isn’t ignorant: simple is seeing the essence, not getting distracted or captured by superfluous add-ons. Simple should not be mistaken for easy.

In graduate school, most of the assigned books were poorly written and the lectures often full of unnecessarily obscure vocabulary. I often wondered whether the professors remembered that the purpose was to foster the learning of others rather than to make their students feel unprepared and incapable. What should have evoked joy and wonder – the luxury of learning and pondering how such learning could make this time and place more blessed – usually didn’t.

The gift to be simple is the gift to not oversimplify or over complicate – to see things clearly and to share that vision with others without fuss or condescension. It is to realize that the truth of the cosmos is written in nimble poetry more often than stilted prose.

To be thankful for the gift to be simple is to stop trying to hide the fullness of self – and to stop running from the enormity of this God created and God related cosmos.