By Chuck Davis
I played basketball in university. As a point guard, I often had control of the game by establishing the tempo of play. Against really good teams we would slow the game way down.
Reduce the number of shots taken. When we were playing a weaker team, it was up-tempo basketball all the way.
Every once in a while during those fast-paced games, the excitement would seep into my game. On a fast break, instead of making a simple bounce pass to the open wing, I might be tempted to cradle the ball and throw a behind-the-back, no-look pass to the trailing wing for more spectacular finish. The fans would ooh at those moments.
Then I would hear one word from my coach, even though it might have been successful: “KISS.” Keep is simple, stupid. He was right. I was increasing the risk of error and potential for a turnover through showmanship that was not necessary. We got two points for the basket whether I made a simple bounce pass or a flashy behind the back pass.
What is it about human nature to make things more complicated than they really need to be? Why do we create unnecessary stress in our lives by always living on the edge?
Why can’t we seem to settle in to appreciate the simple pleasures of the everyday, “mundane” and ordinary life?
Why does there always need to be more? Something out there? Or the newest…?
Why do I have such a hard time relishing the overwhelming blessings that fills my life in the normal everyday?
There are multiple nuanced answers to these questions. What I am more interested in is how to stop the madness. How to “keep it simple” so that I appreciate the everyday and the common.
I think there is an admonition in the Psalms that speaks to this instinct to make my life frenzied with activity.
“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
Derek Kidner writes of this Psalm, “the injunction to ‘be still’ is not in the first place comfort for the harassed but a rebuke to a restless and turbulent world.”
Be still! Knowing that God’s word does not call me to do the impossible there must be a way to find the peace of being still—keeping it simple. I can choose to simplify, or life can have a way of self-correcting for me. Often a tragedy or a loss has that type of clarifying impact in our lives.
In 2000, I had one of those experiences. I was running in the early morning during a family vacation when a driver fell asleep going 50 m.p.h., drove off of the road and hit me. I was flipped into the windshield and sent flying end-over-end, 30 feet up in the air and 70 feet out. I was added to the list of people who might be called “walking miracles.” Literally!
Right after that event, I was alive every moment. I didn’t need another experience. The simple of every day blessings—holding my wife’s hand, talking with my kids, enjoying friendships, life itself in the ordinary—was enough. I didn’t need to pack my schedule full. I didn’t need another experience or adventure. Getting hit by that car turned out to be a life-giving experience. I know it does not turn out that way for everyone.
But it did not take long for me to become bored with the ordinary and the common of everyday. I need regular course corrections.
In the past few months, I have been hit with another type of reality clarifier. Three of my friends have died. The sudden passing stunned us and made us ask the question once again: What really matters most in life? It is the simple blessings of being present with the ones we love in the everyday, the common, and the ordinary. Keep it simple stupid!
Being still is not only a choice, it is a habit that flows from a rich relationship with our Creator and Redeemer. Being still flows from knowing God! Remaining still continues as we press in to know one another. Both require presence. I cannot be present when I pack my life so full that is marked by frenzy.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Davis is senior pastor at Stanwich Congregational Church.
