‘Tis A Gift To Be Simple

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
--Tis the Gift to Be Simple, Lyrics

Dear Church Family,

This Sunday we'll be exploring the Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity — and as it happens, I had planned a simple day for today, Wednesday. Let's just say it didn't quite work out that way. It was supposed to begin with a breakfast planning meeting. But then I realized I had accidentally double-booked myself — a rare case of an appointment that never made it onto my calendar. Suddenly I needed to figure out how to be in two places at once. Simple enough, right?

But before I could give that much thought, Kristen called. It had been a hot day, and she'd turned on the air conditioning. After about ten minutes of cool relief, the whole system shut down. When I got home, I called our HVAC technician, who kindly walked me through diagnosing the problem over the phone (I do enjoy fixing things when I can). First, he sent me up into a sweltering attic — only to then need me down in the hall closet. From there, we had to bypass a sensor in order to get things running again until he could make a service call. And when was he available? Wednesday morning amid my double-booked meetings.

Well, now my simple morning wasn’t so simple. By the time I got everything done, it was noon. I settled in to get some work done, only to be pulled into a small crisis—not of my making, but one that needed my attention and a few calls with colleagues. This eventually got resolved, and I looked at my “to do” list and realized very little had been checked off - including the writing of this article.

My first reaction was a small bit of panic coupled with a touch of self-pity. All the time I thought I had seemed to have slipped away. There just wouldn’t be enough to get it all done.

Then I remembered we’re talking about simplicity this week. And simplicity is one of the first things to go when the myth of scarcity creeps in. When we fear there isn’t enough, we complicate rather than simplify. But Jesus—surprise, surprise—reminds us that complicating things is never the answer.

Remember the story in Mark 6 when Jesus was teaching a crowd of thousands? As the day drew to a close, the disciples told Jesus to send them away find their own dinner—there was no way they could feed them all. There wasn’t enough. But Jesus said, “You feed them.” 

I can only imagine the look on their faces, especially after they took an inventory: 5 loaves and 2 fish! That wouldn’t be enough - it was not going to be simple. Except, with Jesus, nothing is ever like we plan. He had everyone sit down, blessed the food, and told the disciples to start sharing. And there was more than enough.

I’m not sure if I should expect a miracle of that magnitude to carry me through the rest of the day or week – but I do know that, despite my panic, there is more than enough. I don’t need to make this hard. Jesus is with me when it’s simple and when it’s complicated. And often, when I look again through His eyes the complicated becomes simpler. Because there is more than enough grace and love to hold us in God’s care.

And since you’re reading this article, turns out, there was more than enough time after all. And I may have even learned something in the process. 

Tis a gift to be simple!
Pastor Karl