“That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.”

Remember the movie Mary Poppins? Some will say, I don’t remember the movie, but I saw the play on Broadway a few years back?  Regardless, Mary sings a verse, “A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down so nice…”  We should all remember that as we deliver messages to employees, customers and partners.  The best “sugar” is usually that which is made of a “simple syrup” and this holds up true as well when we are communicating.  Breaking down messages to the most basic and simple is hard work and too many times we are too busy to think ahead so we go into a meeting or presentation and before we know it we are getting that blank stare of “I’m not following” and then then first question can be summed up as, “What did you just say?”.  These are high stakes moments that we can’t take for granted.  We only get so many times to make something clear and simple before we lose credibility that can’t be regained.  If we are not spending twice as much time in preparation as it takes to deliver the message, then I can assure you that what you communicate will not be simple enough to be understood.

Unfortunately, we are also guilty of this in our faith walk.  Since we don’t spend time practicing our readiness to speak of our faith, when asked we end up making things complicated and not at all easy to understand.  Recently, Pope Francis was quoted as saying, “At times we lose people because they don’t understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity.”  In Matthew we learn that Jesus could cast out demons with a “simple command”.  Let’s consider today what we can say simply and what we can do simply to bring glory to God in our work!

Reference: Mathew 8:16 (New Living Translation)