Live Simply

--- Ronald Fookson [fookson@gmail.com] wrote:

Note: forwarded message attached.

Live Simply
by Bo Sanchez

I remember that day, when I was in Grade 4, the inevitable "passage of manhood" happened as a few classmates of mine started wearing long pants. Suddenly, they looked so mature, so grown-up, so guapo-while all of us who wore the uniform khaki shorts were so Totoy.

I pressed Mom and Dad to buy me a pair, but they kept on saying, "later, Bo." The following year, when I was in Grade 5, I was the only guy wearing shorts. It was totally humiliating.

In Grade 6, I was the only guy wearing a bikini. That's what my classmates called my shorts, as I had already outgrown them.

Believe me, I have never again been so sexy in my life.

Finally, on Graduation Day, I wept with pure joy when Mom gave my very own pair of pants. Oh, I did not care if the fold at the bottom of the pants was 12 inches long, reaching to my knees ("so that I can adjust it as you get taller," my mother explained). To me, they were the most beautiful pair of long pants in the world.
But ironically, after a while, the thrill faded away. Because I started wanting to wear jeans. "Mom, everyone has at least one pair!" I pleaded.

When she bought me one after a few years of begging, I soared to cloud nine and romped off with it like a prince. I thought my happiness would never end, until my High School classmates told me that their jeans were Levi's while mine were Ludy's.
Believe me, I felt miserable as a kid.

But now that I'm old, I thank God for that misery (and I thank God for my wise parents.)

You see, wearing Ludy's has now become my lifestyle. And it is immensely satisfying to live simply!

Let me explain.

People think that I'm crazy for not wanting nice stuff, for wearing crummy shoes and clothes, for not shopping for the finer things in life. For not even wanting to own a car, or a disk player, or even a nicer watch. People ask me, "why do you have so few desires in your life now?"

The answer comes from my bikini experience: I've realized that no human desire ever quits on you. We just keep on wanting more and more stuff. Nothing ever satisfies.
Nothing, that is, except one: a desire for God.

Today, my desires are very few and very simple. But I wish they'd get fewer still.
Until only one remains.

And that, my friend, will be purest joy.

Try it.

Missionaries who vow poverty leave their possessions behind to go to a foreign land, witness the blessings of living without possessions. Many Priests and Sisters who vow obedience and commit themselves to serve one another and to serve the poor, witness the blessings of being a servant. Finally, men and women who promise celibacy and offer to give up having their own families with the hope of belonging to all families, witness the blessings of being childless. In challenging us to bless events that crippled my wohl (?) patients and many in the old testament, the vows challenge us to heal memories.....(by Dennis Linn and Mathew Linn in healing life's hurts.)


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