Santa, Fairytales, and Faith.

     The older I get the more complicated life seems to get. I bet you experience this too, these moments of build up when you have so many things going on that we are fooled into thinking that even our faith is complicated. This happens especially when you go to church or attend a bible school. You're told time and time again about the complex natures of God, and as you grow older and--hopefully--wiser, you begin to delve deeper into the scriptures, looking closer at things.
     Owe to the fact that we all tend to live at least partially complicated lives of our own we will try and complicate things by ourselves. We will, if you haven't already, experience that moment where you blow something so far out of proportion that it becomes far more complicated that it needs to be. I don't know why we do this, but you have to admit that's it's very ridiculous. We are often caught red-handed, complaining about our seemingly difficult lives, though we complicate them ourselves.
     Now, as we grow older and get spoon-fed these tales of evolution and aliens, we get this mindset where we think we ought to see proof that something exists before we believe it. This becomes a problem when we come to faith in our savior. We can't see God physically, and unless we receive a divine message from Him of some sort, we most likely will not see Him while on Earth. However, faith isn't something we have by sight. John 20:29 says, "...'because you have seen me, you believe; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" Jesus teaches us here that we ought to simply believe in Him without having first seen Him.
     Do you remember what it was like to be a child? That childhood simplicity is truly a gift from God. The feeling of joy you felt as your parents told you about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The mystery of the those nursery rhymes. The awe of finding out about Jesus in sunday school. Children take things as they are because they don't know any better, but it's something beautiful. We ought to think simpler in times of faith. You see, faith isn't complicated, God is, but faith is not complicated in the slightest. God loves each and every one of us and wants us to love Him back. He will show Himself to us when we believe.
     With belief comes beauty. When you let go and simply believe you see things you wouldn't before. The trick is to not complicate Gods creation. The beauty of a bee flying over a patch of flowers, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, even the simple act of walking onto the porch in the morning. The world is full of too much complication on its own, Jesus offers us simplicity. Take His hand and He will calm the stormy seas with naught but three little words: "I love you."