The following was printed some time ago in an American publication called Nation’s Business. It was a list of informal guidelines from an experienced Army colonel to new military officers. I’ll bet you won’t need long to apply these to more than army life.

1. “If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.”
2. “If your attack is going extremely well, it’s an ambush.”
   
3. “Anything you do can get you shot, including doing nothing.”
4. “If the enemy is in range, so are you.”
5. “The important things are always simple; the simple things are always hard; the easy way is always mined.”

I’m pretty sure a book could be written about #5 alone. “The easy way is always mined”… man, that’s the truth.

It reminds me of a line from the movie “A League of Their Own”… “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” Yeah, the easy way gets picked over by everyone, even those who have little to no heart.

It reminds me of an image of Jesus’… “Broad is the road” and crowded is the road too. They’ll never be a shortage of traffic on easy roads. I find myself looking for them too.

The theme of simplicity has long struck a chord with me. A Richard Foster book carries the title “The Freedom of Simplicity”–I suppose I’m drawn to the idea of greater freedom just like people of all types have been longing for it since the start of time. And I guess that deep inside, I really believe that the phrase is true: Freedom IS found in simplifying. Complicating things never seems to lead there.

Maybe that’s why #5 jumps out for me.

The important things are always simple.

The simple things are always hard.

The easy way is always mined.