“You are so complicated!” frustration had boiled over into a discussion-ending outburst. As a high-schooler, I had never seen myself complicated, everything was quite simple in my head – haha! All complicated thinkers see themselves as simple until the mirror gets turned on them. Over the course of the next few years I realized – I am a pretty complicated thinker. If I’m ever going to communicate effectively I will have to learn the art of simple.

The truth is that all of us are more complicated than we think to an outside observer (Prov 25:3). They might see a tangle of incoherent thoughts and actions, while we are frustrated with their lack of understanding. One of the least simple individuals in Scripture was King Solomon (just try understanding Ecclesiastes 7). It didn’t work for Solomon–bottom line: all of us need to simplify sometimes.

King Solomon spent his whole life running after the complicated, only to boil life down with such focused simplicity: “… here’s the final word: Fear God and keep His commands for this is the whole duty of mankind.” (Eccl 12:13 JST) Jesus took complicated Martha and simplified, “You are troubled about many things. But one thing is needed [sitting at Jesus’ feet and hearing His Word].” (Luke 10:39, 41-42) “But Pastor, I have this spiral of thought I always go down, this person at work, these tasks, these family obligations – life is complicated.” True. All the more reason to simplify. What if you focused on one thing: sitting at Jesus’ feet and hearing His Word? What if that space is available in your imagination?

Imagine you’re at Jesus’ feet right now, hearing His Word. What is He saying? What are His expressions toward you? What is He stirring in your spirit? The art of simple starts right now – Be with Jesus.