Simplicity
(Translation:
I delight in simplicty
In the fullness of God´s love
And I face each day with serenity
and trust.
Simplicity)
I read this story in an old 1990's Readers Digest that I have in the bathroom.....hahaha! I just had to share it with you:
"Working at a College with a preponderance of non-English speaking students, my sister sometimes had difficulty in communicating with the newly arrived.
Once as she was enrolling a young man, she reached a standstill at the question of birth date. No matter what words or motions she used, the young man remained puzzled. Finally, a Chinese student standing nearby asked my sister, "What do you need to know?" After my sister explained, the Chinese woman turned to the young man and hummed the first few bars of "Happy Birthday to You."
His eyes lit up in recognition as he exclaimed, "May 12, 1955" The helpful student shrugged and said, "Same song, every country.""
Isn't it true that we complicate things that could be so simple? I know I do. Often I find myself trying to solve something using the most difficult approach.....like the girl trying to find out the birth date of the student. After trying all she knew to do she was at a loss...who knows what she tried before she gave up? The student who helped solve an apparently unsolvable problem, did it by singing the classic Happy Birthday to You song. So simple.
I am sure there are lots of moments when we think that there is no other way to deal with a certain difficulty and God comes along and sings "Happy Birthday to You!"
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. ~Henry David Thoreau
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~Leonardo DaVinci
The greatest truths are the simplest: so likewise are the greatest men. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann, Introduction to the Bootstrap, 1993
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5 comments:
Great story! We do tend to over complicate things in today's world, don't we?
So true girl--so true!
Just stopping by for the first time. Love your place. You are bookmarked. Have a great one!
Wow! Good thoughts, I love the touch of the quotes! I also LOVE Thinking Outside the Box!
I really liked those quotes (all of them), but I think this was the my fav...
"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann, Introduction to the Bootstrap, 1993"
Not only was that story an illustration of how we should simplify, simplify, simplify if at possible, but what a great reminder of how much the world has in common. Sometimes we spend far too much time mulling over our differences instead of celebrating our commonality. Good reminder there!
Kari
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