Simplexity

Good morning, I pray that the day is finding you well. Simplexity. I wish that I had made up this word, but I didn’t . I read it in a book. I looked up simplexity in the dictionary and this is what I found, “The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary.” So I entered “simplex” into the dictionary, this is what I found. Simplex (noun) a spatial configuration of n dimensions determined by n + 1 points in a space of dimension equal to or greater than n. a triangle together with its interior determined by its three vertices is a two-dimensional simplex in the plane or any space of higher dimension. While this is a fun and interesting definition, in fact, as this is a mathematical definition for the word, it is a definition that allows me to think in terms of me and the life that I live while simultaneously contemplating God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. It is a definition that really doesn’t put the cookies on the bottom shelf, It is worded in a way that unless you are a mathematician it tends to make you go, “Huh?” So I looked up another version of Simplex, I looked it up as an adjective. Simplex (adjective) Allowing telecommunication in only one direction. a simplex system. While this is obviously a viable definition for Simplex, as an adjective, this definition is not defining what made me ponder as I read this book. This is a definition for a person that pontificates over the phone. We moved to Kansas when I was thirteen years old. We moved from a suburb of Chicago. Spending my first thirteen years in Chicago formed me in certain ways. We did not talk to strangers, we always walked to school in a group (that is when we walked and not dropped off by our parents in front of the school). People seemed to be in a hurry, not very friendly, there seemed to be a lot going on; life seemed to be in a hurry, rushed, it seemed complex. Spending the rest of my growing up years in Kansas formed me too; or should I reformed me. When we moved, my parents rented a farm fourteen miles from town. I can still remember; that was a funny statement to make, if I couldn’t remember I would not be sharing this memory with you, the first night we spent in that little town in Kansas. We were staying at the motel; we were going to move into the farmhouse the next day or two. Mom made the statement, “I cannot believe that there are no taxi’s here.” I said, “Mom, why do we need a taxi? We can walk across the town in less than 5-minutes.” When we ventured out of the motel the following morning I started to notice things. I noticed that everyone waved at you. At first we thought something was wrong with our car and people were trying to tell us something, we did not wave back. We would stop the car and look it over, never finding anything. After we had been waved at numerous times, people smiled when they waved, but frowned when they passed by us, not waving back. We realized that we were supposed to wave back at them, like saying, “Hello, or hey there.” I noticed that people at intersections would not pull out into the street if a car was coming down the block. In Chicago people pulled out in front of people all the time, if there was room to get your car into the flow of traffic, you went. We found out quickly that pulling out in front of a car in this small town was a very rude thing to do. “What’s the hurry, people would say. In fact, I often wondered why people drove at all, As I mentioned earlier a person could walk across the whole town in less than five minutes. We learned to wave. We learned to wait. We learned that this seemingly simple place had a complexity all its own. Simplexity, the seemingly simple combined with the seemingly complex. I actually like the definition that I read in the book: There are two words I wish I had invented but didn’t: glocal and simplexity. Like the word glocal, which brings together the global and the local, simplexity yokes the simple and the complex. The mystery of simplexity is the complex embracing the simple and the rational embracing the imcomprehensible. (Leonard Sweet, Viral. Colorado Springs: (WaterBrook Press, 2012),44.) Our life with, and in Christ, is filled with simplexity. Conversion is simple, it takes only a moment. Transformation is complex, it takes a lifetime. Jesus when teaching His disciples was asked what the greatest commandment was. Jesus said, “30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) Simple, simply love. Complex, love; what does this look taste and feel like? Our lives are filled with simplexity. Our faith is filled with simplexity. Let us be at peace with this fact. Let us be at peace with living in the mystery of living our simple lives confronted with the complexity of the higher dimension. Let us not be content with what we already know. Let us be filled with the wonder of a child, and allow Christ to teach us at a deeper, higher plane. Blessings,