Let's Not Complicate Things | Lisa Collins

Recently I was listening to some music, and a favorite song came on. Even though I have heard this song many times before, one line of the lyrics jumped out at me. 

The line reads, “In my own defense, I don’t believe that I was born this complicated.” * 

It made me laugh, and I could not get the words out of my head. The songwriter feels the need to defend himself by harkening back to his birth. He started out okay but somewhere along the line he became complicated. Why does he want us to know this? It’s because being complicated is usually not a good thing. If you hear someone reply “it’s complicated,” when you ask them a question, you can be pretty sure that their answer, should they choose to elaborate, will be involved and problematic. Even before we are born, God knows us. He would like nothing better than for our lives to follow the path that He has laid out for us. But right out of the gate, life can take different twists and turns. Complications can begin to creep in to our lives at an early age with many different causes. Our sinful nature can lead us to do things that result in all kinds of complications. And the older we get, the more life’s trials can take a toll on us. Before you know it we are very complicated beings. Thankfully, we are children of a God who wants us to walk in the beauty of an uncomplicated life.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 says, “This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” (Good News Translation) His way involves simple concepts like love, faith, peace and forgiveness. Complications arise when we choose to hold on to the issues from the past rather then letting go of the things that hamper our relationship with Him. The God of Second Chances will always welcome us with open arms no matter how many times we complicate things. But in choosing the path unencumbered by the complications of this world, we are taking giant steps toward understanding the fullness of God and all that He has for us. The choice is ours-let’s not complicate things! *Complicated, by Yonder Mountain String Band