Keep It Simple

A few days ago I received the following email from my granddaughter:

“Hey nana and papaw. It's Addison here. I was just thinking about you and wanted to send you a letter. I hope your having a great time. I really miss you and cant wait to see you at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Well, I hope you enjoyed my letter and call me when you get this. See You Soon. Love, Addi.” The way in which the email was written totally impressed me, especially coming from an eleven year old. Was it perfect? No! Was it innocent and simplistic? Yes! Did it convey the appropriate message? Without doubt! When you think of it, this is the way God communicates to us. He always keeps it simple. We should do the same, which was a motto often mentioned by a parishioner our church lost recently to cancer. William Davenport more than once told his family, “You don’t need to pray an elaborate prayer you just need to be sincere.” He believed if you prayed simple prayers and exercised simple faith, God would hear and take action. As a result he left a treasure chest of testimonies proving that this kind of praying worked.  When told he had cancer and only six months to live, he simply prayed for healing and received a miracle. He was eighty-three at the time. He then asked God to let him live until age eighty-six. Again he received his wish. One of his favorite statements was, “It will be alright.” How could he say this with such confidence? It was not because of being profound or perfect in any sense of the word. Rather, he had found the power of simple prayer. We lose emphasis and impetus so often when we try to impress God. Was this not the point Jesus was making when He addressed the Pharisees? “You think you will be heard by your long prayers and vain repetitions. Not so!” In essence He was saying, “Just keep it simple.”  The email referenced earlier was one of simplicity and it got my attention. Its nature merited an immediate reply. So as soon as I read it, I made contact with my granddaughter. Our Father does the same. Neither the throne nor its doors is disturbed by eloquence but are moved by those who stand before them in a childlike fashion. That’s why we need to pray and in doing so keep it simple.