Maxim Week 31

After a 2 week hiatus from Maxim Mondays, we return today with Week 31.

Be simple, hidden, quiet, and small. The Holy Fathers say: “If you want to be known by God, seek not to be known by people.”And again, it’s simplicity, hiddenness, quiet, smallness.

Fr. Thomas Hopko

I’ve been mulling this over in my mind. What exactly does it mean to be simple, hidden, quiet and small? My first inclination is to say “don’t bring attention to yourself.” And I think to a certain extent it does mean that, but I think Fr. Thomas had something a little different in mind because he has “Don’t bring attention to yourself” as a completely separate maxim.

I think we need to focus on the words one at a time.

Simple.

The first 3 entries in Merriam-Webster Dictionary makes it pretty clear what this means…

Definition of simple 

1 : free from guile: innocent

2a : free from vanity : modest

      b : free from ostentation or display a simple outfit

3 : of humble origin or modest position

Being “simple” in this understanding would most definitely be helpful on our path of Christian living.

Hidden.

To be out of sight. Not readily apparent.

Quiet.

To understand how being “quiet” would be useful on our path of Christian living I would like to bring up the synonyms of Quiet.
Synonyms:
calm,calmness, hush, peace, peacefulness, placidity, quietness, quietude, repose,restfulness, sereneness, serenity, still, stillness, tranquility

Wow! Yes. These are essential in our path of Christian living. On our path to kindle joy, these would certainly be useful in showing the light of Christ.

Small.

Here is a quote from William Shakespeare I think sums this up nicely. “Speak as small as you will.” Also, small means humble or modest.

As we walk through this week let us work on being simple, hidden, quiet and small. Let us look to Christ for strength to endeavor to glorify Him in all we do.