“But they made light and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.” Matthew 22:5

Each Easter season, I pray asking God to give me ears to hear and eyes to see and a mind to comprehend just what it is He needs me to see. Much of the time, I am listening for stories and themes.  Watchful to see how things can be done better.  Processing later what seemed to have stuck out to me during my day.  Sometimes, just sometimes, those moments really hit home a lesson…

We have a system in place for how we build baskets.  It runs rather efficiently.  Because we pray asking God to bring whatever it is that we need, things come in all different shapes and sizes.  That can be both good and bad.  In the realms of baskets and stuffed animals, bigger is not always better, though it enticingly looks that way to most.  And lately, we have had an abundance of big baskets.  Ones that are slightly bigger than the average size Easter basket.

I learned many seasons ago to put away the large ones. When kids come to build, they become fixated on wanting to build the “biggest” ones. They are sure it will be super cool! What I found is that they would go to the shelves and look for all the normal things that go in a regular size basket. The next thing I would see is a puzzled face standing before me, with shadows of disappointment cast upon it, as they weakly would ask, “Can I get candy…?…?”

The problem would be that in their rush to build this awesome sized basket, they had missed the spatial concept that regular sized items don’t fit well in a very large area. In fact, all the goodies tend to float around with lots of space that the builders are trained to not allow. Unsure of what to do, they stand there befuddled and we, then, have to take apart the basket and find bigger items to fill it. It is a little more labor intensive and thought provoking on their end and mine. So I often tuck those baskets out of sight until a seasoned builder comes; one who knows how to handle bigger better.  The temptation, taught in our world, that bigger is better, is more than most kids can bear to steer clear from. Hence, “out of sight, out of mind” works well in removing this cog in the system.

But this season has been slightly different than most and because of more gentle stream of baskets arriving, I have had the “bigger” ones out to use.  Now, by the basket table is a sign that tells of our “Big Basket Rule”:  big baskets require big stuff…big stuffed animals, big books, and any big toys.  They get the same amount of stuff as the other baskets, but the contents have to be in proportion to the basket.  Now many struggle with personal interpretations of what “big” means, so we have them ask before using a bigger basket. When they do, I tell them that they have to gather all their items first. Once I see what they have, we then pick out the basket that best fits the components. From there, the basket is assembled and off to the wrapper.

Yesterday, there was an abundance of big baskets for a normal session.  I tucked them up against the wall and on our basket grassing station (where the empty baskets await Easter grass).  I put lots of normal sized baskets out at the front, but the temptation was too great for many.  What is normally a one-time occurrence during an occasional build became a re-occurring theme throughout both builds.  And I must admit by the last building time, with aching feet and fading eyes, I was growing tired of seeing those large baskets and repeating the mantra of “big baskets need big everything.”

I’ve been writing a fair amount about Jonah 2:8 lately.  A verse that God has blessed my life with.  It goes something like this:  “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”  Early on in my exploration of the word idol, somehow I came across the idea–in the etymology–that worthless fears can become idols to us. Lately I have been looking at the idea of how we “cling” to these fears by digging deeper into the concept of complacency.

As I was trying to google a verse, I came across this definition for the “theme” of complacency at Biblegateway.com:

“A self-satisfied state of negligence or carelessness to one’s personal situation.”

Interestingly, it suggested looking deeper at themes like:  spiritual blindness, idleness, sluggard, carelessness, indifference, apostasy, neglect, pride and self-righteousness. All of these things having or supporting some connection to the development of complacency in our lives.

It doesn’t take much to become careless in how one sees things in life.  In fact, we can become neglectful quite easily. Things like indifference can lead to us dismissing consequences too readily for what we say and do or what we choose not to say or do. Idleness and lazy supporting choices can make us sluggish to react to needs or wants in ourselves and others. And those things can lead to a disregard of what is important in life–to us and to those around us. We say we believe in God’s ways, and then we, through spiritual blindness, pretend not to understand what He is asking of us. That, in turn, can lead to apostasy when our choices abandon the very ways we claim we should be living. Moreover, because we want to stay where we are at, pride and self-righteousness lend aid to proving our decisions are best for all involved.

In Matthew 22:5, Jesus was telling a story about a kind father who held a great wedding feast for his son. He sent out invites to those He wanted to come. Back then, those invites went out well before the feast. They were kind of like today’s “save the date” notices. People responded that they would love to come, but when the second invitation went out, the people “made light and went their ways…” The Bible note to this verse, in the NKJV Life Application Study Bible version, stated that the people “were so preoccupied with the here and now that they had no concern for God’s kingdom.”

Complacency is so not our friend.  It leads us to being preoccupied with ourselves–our here and now–such that we avoid seeing the things that may need to change around us or in us; the opportunities to better this world and positively impact the way it operates. When we become self-satisfied, we become blind to the potential that exists to further His kingdom through how our very own lives touch the lives surrounding us.  And, my friend, that is indeed being neglectful and careless.  We live in this world, His kingdom. So do our children, our families, our neighbors, and so many others. Complacency says we do not need to worry about making this world a better place, so long as we are focused on ourselves and seemingly indifferent to the rest.

When we first started building Easter baskets, we did so out of boxes. They were organized, but the boxes and tables were everywhere. We did so in a basement with just the basic lighting, a few bulbs on a string. It was a concrete floor; the bare necessities. As the outreach grew, God also grew our vision. When the day came, He showed us to reach up, which led to our current shelving system. The big boxes for overflow were relegated to the far corner and became a delight for the builders to occasionally dig through rather than a routine chore in building. Bins of books became lighter and more efficiently ordered by age and reading skill. Toys bins became clear and easier to see into, all categorized by gender and age. All the little things–the layers as I call them–found housing on our top shelves in clear shoe box containers so that they were accessible with ease.  A pattern began to flow that had not been there before.

As we were filled with awe at what He was doing, we began to pray that God help us to stay away from pride and fear. That He open our eyes and ears for how things could be better–each time–as He had so faithfully been doing. To move our hearts and minds on how to better the system; that it wasn’t finished or done. We don’t want to settle into complacency that would hold us back from improving.  Over time, we have watched things unfurl and grow in ways that standing in that dim-lit, cold floor, box laden basement, so long ago, we could not see.

Understand, worthless fears are supported by complacency. Complacency, in turn, is supported by pride, self-righteousness, indifference, neglect, and so on. Every season, I hear someone ask if we are proud–“how proud we must be”–with this outreach.  And each time, I shudder inside. I don’t really have any reason to be proud. It is not I who moves the souls to make this happen. It is not me who knew best how to do this–remember, we started out in boxes and near darkness. It is not us who gently brings what we need when we need it. I don’t want pride in this, and surely, we don’t need to be bogged down with the weight of self-righteousness. For what we do is about growing faith, and there are no parts of indifference, carelessness, neglect, spiritual blindness, or the like, that inspire faith to increase in hearts where those painful things touch.

It is also why it is so fitting that my ears heard what they did last night, especially in light of Scripture He has had me digging into.  It took until this morning for my eyes to really understand why a particular basket had stuck out to me. A young lady had taken a larger basket without asking. As I was taking pictures of the baskets in the same area she was working, I noticed the large basket with smaller components.  I walked over and shared with her that she probably would need to find a bigger stuffed animal just to fill in the space.  She nodded her, in that tween way, that let me know she really didn’t want to hear that.  She wasn’t rude, but continued on her way. A little while later, I saw the same stuffed animals and realized it wasn’t going to change.

Being a bit tired of the dilemma bigger baskets had been creating–things slow down, more need for intervention and redirection, others then want to build a “bigger” basket–I tried again to nudge her in the right direction. The direction of what usually works best for the baskets. I was met with same quiet indifference, but between my tiredness and a gentle nudge to see where it went, I let her continue on. Much to my humbling surprise, she was able to work in other larger components to balance out the smaller ones she had chosen. Her and I admired her work as I checked it before she got her candy.  I chuckled and said, “You can stick some in his mouth.  That would be so cute!”  With a big smile, she said, “That was my plan!”

The basket stuck with me all night, poking at me to appreciate better how well things can be done even when different from the rest.  How this work, God has us doing, has repeatedly called for a patiently balancing–and re-balancing–between being happy with the system and being willing and humble enough to allow change. Moments like these are what keeps my pride in check and my faith growing; it is why I pray for open eyes, listening ears, and wisdom to understand what is before me. Yes, there’s a great way to make bigger baskets, but it is not the only way. You never know, she might be the next inventor of something our world just can’t see yet, but may one day very much need.

As I scanned at the basket pictures from last night’s sessions, I stopped to look at hers. I knew it was a reminder not to become stuck in the smug satisfaction of this way, where we are right now with the way we build. A godly nudge to turn from complacency and allow forward movement even when it is not the easiest path before us. It was in that moment, of reflecting on the picture, when I found myself laughing at God’s exclamation point that I had not seen when approving her basket:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”  Proverbs 3:7

It is the verse she had chosen for her basket.  It sits tucked up in her coloring book, if you want to take a look. My friends, that is how bad complacency truly is. How evil it is for our thinking to be proud, self-righteous, smugly satisfied, or indifferent. Wisdom in our own eyes promotes believing in the fears that we feel are justified, worthless or not. The ones we choose to cling to through complacent living. Make no mistake, evil is not shunned there. It is grows quietly.  Grace is not realized there; it is forfeited.

How little worth our wisdom has when we fear something more than living out His ways. Let us pray that complacency does not find a resting spot in our lives. Let us be willing to move from the set ways of our earthly kingdoms and faithfully walk with Him on this journey through life. May we learn the better ways that He kindly puts before us…even if it is as simple as allowing an exception to the general rule of building bigger baskets.

“This is the way of the adultress woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wickedness.'” Proverbs 30:20