This morning I was out on our balcony tending to the garden. A wave of frustration hit me when I discovered a bunch of caterpillars on my precious basil plant. I blasted the thing with my homemade insect repellent (Dr. Bronner's mint soap and water) and pulled off all the leaves with holes, hoping that would be the last of that.
Then it hit me: that is so typical of our culture. We get grossed out or terrified by things that are perfectly natural. We're conditioned to be repulsed by insects just doing their thing. We're so ashamed of perspiration that we slather on antiperspirants loaded with toxic chemicals in hope of suppressing a perfectly natural bodily response to warmer weather. Justin and I were talking about how there is such intense fear of pain nowadays, particularly pain in childbirth. Rather than try to work with our bodies, we try to numb ourselves up at the first sign of discomfort. I'm not saying we should never use pain relief. It's just stunning how much we've all grown to depend on it.
I think one of the things that can make life simpler is not trying so hard to work against the way God designed things. It's not the most profound realization I've ever had, but at the same time I think it'd make all the difference if we could really put it into practice.
