It's really very simple.

It's really very simple. At least it should be. That's the thought that came to my mind over and over again as I took my walk this morning. I was listening to a podcast and it had stirred several thoughts by way of what the speaker was sharing. This was the primary one--our faith, real faith, the kind that Scripture that talks about over and over again, is really very simple. In fact, the more complex it becomes, the less it resembles faith and takes on all the traits of religion.

Now, you don't have to be a history major to understand the bad things that religion has done to mankind over the centuries. With its layers of rules and restrictions and rituals, it creates a complex system that is destined to make sure of one thing--its adherents are failures.

My grandmother was no failure. "Granny" to me, she was Miss Eva to the people of the town where she lived and died. And anyone who watched Miss Eva got to see an up close portrayal of what I'm talking about--simple faith. Stripped of all the complexities, it was a marvelous thing to observe. She loved her family, supported her husband (a farmer by weekday and an itinerant Baptist minister on the weekends), disciplined her children and prayed with great hope and trust for everyone she knew. Ask Granny about predestination, she would have probably given you a curious look. Talk to her about the Tribulation and she would have shared what she knew about the ones that were in her circles of influence. But ask her about Jesus, about love, about forgiveness or about the cross and Granny's eyes would have lit up. She knew what she knew and that was enough. Leave the complex questions to others who had time for that. Granny had children to raise, friends to love and a simple life to live. It was a life full of really simple trust in a God she knew very personally.

As I finished my walk this morning, I thought to myself how sweet her memories were. And I prayed that God would teach me to keep it simple so that I would never lose sight of the things that really matter most.

Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about. Ecclesiastes 12: 13 CEV