A Return to Truth through Simplicity

By Lu Jie-xiang

Simplicity does not mean poverty, just as solitude is not the same as loneliness.

Since I became a missionary, a simple lifestyle has become my daily exercise. It is also my daily enjoyment.

Thanks, perhaps, to my background in Mainland China, I am easily satisfied with a simple life. During my childhood our nation was poor and everybody had to learn to get used difficult circumstances. All the major commodities of daily life were rationed. Everyone wore the same style of clothes in the same color. Poverty and drabness were indeed the mark of thorough proletarians. Living in poverty made me easily satisfied with little things like a wild flower, a piece of grass, a tiny stone, a dragonfly; all of these could bring me great joy.

When I was in China, I was under the impression that the western world was luxurious, with their evening gowns, cocktail parties, heavy makeup, banquets and night clubs. When I came to Canada, however, I discovered that westerners actually live surprisingly simple lives. They often just wear jeans and T-shirts. Their lunch is usually a cup of coffee and a sandwich. On public holidays they often go for picnics. In summer, they go to the beach swimming, fishing or kite-flying. In the winter, they go skiing. Their relaxed lifestyle brings them freedom and makes them one with nature. It is lovely!

This is just the kind of life style that I like. There is no fear of being looked down on for dressing casually, no pressure to be fashionable, no heavy jewelry, no restrictive rules. Especially after I believed in the Lord, a life of simplicity has enabled me to avoid a lot of unnecessary waste so that I can focus on running toward my goal.

In the days after my clear call to become a missionary, my life became even simpler. I no longer bought expensive things. When I came upon something that I really liked, I would just pick it up, admire it and then put it down again. I knew that the gypsy-like missionary life would not allow me the burden of carrying round too many belongings.

The day I arrived in Cambodia as a missionary, I saw my bare room with nothing in it but a wooden bed. But when I discovered it had a bathroom with toilet, I couldn't help praising the Lord. I immediately brought out my camera and took a picture or two of the toilet. I sent them back to Canada, showing the brothers and sisters how I had a bathroom with a toilet in Cambodia.

It has been a great experience for me to go from China to North America and then from North America to Cambodia. My experiences in Cambodia have been very different from those in China and North America. Along the riverbank of the Mekong and in the jungles, I have been very impressed at the simplicity and grace of the traditional bamboo houses. I enjoy Cambodian artwork, made from wood, bamboo and dried grasses. In my room hang a few pieces of artwork, grasshoppers, dragonflies, gold fish and crickets. Among the gifts I have received were rings, necklaces and crowns, all made of coconut palm leaves. For many people a simple life may seem hard to bear and quite boring. But to me it is precious. It helps rid me of an inward arrogance so that I can have a clear spiritual outlook, and I know that this has been a blessing from the Lord in my life. He is providing me with this simple life in Cambodia so that I can be even closer to Him and can exercise my rich inner life. And isn't this exactly what it means to return to truth through simplicity?

Since coming to Cambodia, one of my mottoes has been,"Don't be wasteful". As I observe the impoverished lives the local people lead, I feel deeply that any kind of waste is a sin.

The 21^st century is an age of scientific advancement and abundant resources, which make it very hard for people to adopt a simple life-style. Excessive desires for material possessions and excessive worldly temptations make it very easy for a person to lose a heart of purity and simplicity before the Lord. It is also very easy for a person to break simple harmonious human relationships. Arrogance and hypocrisy are the by-products of modern civilization.

Simplicity does not mean poverty, just as solitude is not the same thing as loneliness. Simplicity means contentment and a low level of desire for material things; it is practicality over luxury; it is artistic appreciation over rituals; it is upright character over morbid thinking; it is appreciation of things over possessions. And most importantly, it is spiritual freedom over a sense of burden.

I love simplicity. This is because out of simplicity comes true depth and richness.

The author is from Guangzhou and graduated in Canada. She is now a missionary in Cambodia.