I just returned from some sabbatical time that I was granted by West Ridge Church. It’s given to our Pastor/Director Team members every five years. The focus of these four weeks was family and renewal. I have been asking God to restore me to some healthy life rhythms. I had let things get pretty unbalanced recently, and I think it was starting to show.
One of the things I did to renew my spirit was listen to my favorite worship tunes. One of my favorite worship CD’s is from Mars Hill Bible Church. They sing a song called, ‘Enchanted’. Unfortunately, Disney has monopolized the word and turned it into a princess movie, but that is beside the point.
Two words stick out from that song every time I hear it. You guessed ‘em, ‘Holy Naivete’. The word naïve and most of the synonyms are generally used as negative descriptions, but it has some positive meanings. One is this, “Admirably straightforward and uncomplicated, or refreshingly innocent and unaffected.” Another definition is “To have an excessively simple and trusting view of the world.”
For me I want this phrase to be a description of my personal faith. Even when we are trusting God for the ‘big’ things in our life, faith should be relatively simple. Faith that there is a God that can do whatever he wants. Faith that says this same Creator God has plans to prosper and not to harm me, and a hope and a future. Faith that knows even when the Father is silent, He is not absent.
I want to commit to not allowing life’s practicalities and busyness to crowd out my faith.
God give me the gift of Holy Naivete.
