By Jeff Watson
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Sometimes our most powerful lessons arise from the simpler things in life.

Simplicity in Scripture
When some first-century folks got twisted in a knot about fashion and wardrobe, Jesus quipped, “Why do you worry about clothes? Consider … the wild flowers …. They do not labor or spin … Yet … not even Solomon … was dressed like one of these.”

When the ancient prophet Balaam veered down the wrong path, his donkey got the message and lay down. Spiritually dull, the boisterous rider scolded the burro and beat her with a stick. As a last resort, heaven spoke through the mule and an argument erupted—between Balaam and the jackass! The story begs the question: “How dull can we be?”

Simplicity in outlook
After publishing more than a thousand Spanish plays, Lope de Vega discovered the joy of contentment. “With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures, and some books, I live without envy.” Alexander Pope later underscored the power of plainness: “There is … majesty in simplicity … far above … the quaintness of wit.”

In our day, the acclaimed National Geographic photographer William Albert Allard boils it down: “The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could … get rid of the extraneous.” Equally straightforward, the novelist Charles Dudley Warner concludes: “Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”

Simplicity in nature
The life of simplicity is not one of blind reductionism. As Einstein put it: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” When we become simplistic, we fall under H. L. Mencken’s indictment: “For every problem there is a solution which is simple, clean, and wrong!”

Simplicity in experience
A few years ago, I was struck by the power of a simple lesson. In the midst of a happy vacation in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, we were startled by a sad phone call. “Daddy is gone,” the caller said. “Can you get to Bluefield, West Virginia?”