Having A Heart After The Simple Things

Living simply is not only about living in the country, heating with wood or hanging up clothes, although for me personally, those are some of the things that are part of of my goal to live simply and softly on this earth. Living Simply is more tied to having a heart after the simple things than any thing else. It has been said, "When you value rare things highly, you turn honest people into thieves. If you show people exciting things, you will make them covetous and greedy." The way a small child looks at the world is a perfect example of having a simple heart.
They often find more joy in the box a gift comes in, than in the fancy gift. A child will delight in chasing shadows and trying to catch a leaf caught in the wind. A child will delight in just sitting next to a loved one, doing nothing more than talking and sharing. A child finds equal warmth in a fancy blanket as in a well worn home made quilt. Watching the clouds go by on a summer day is delightful to a child and the beauty of nature, profound. A child doesn't care if the dishes they eat off of have some fancy name on the underside, nor do they care that the shoes they wear cost $1 at a thrift store or $50 at a specialty shop. Certainly the quote above shows that once a child is influenced by parents, peers, etc that value things more than what their true value is in life, the child will become demanding, greedy, and needy. The simple heart has been replaced, yet even so, study after study shows when children have been asked what they want more of in their life, the reply is almost always the same, "more time with their parents".
Their hearts are after the simple things.
A good test of the value things have is to look back in your stack of memories. The things that stand out in our minds as truly treasured things are memories of time spent with loved ones, it might be a camping trip, time spent with a wonderful friend. The value of the moment is not in the things that surrounds the memory, but the emotion, the connection, the heart moment.
I can look back through my years and remember an opulent meal or two, and yes they are good memories, but they all pale in comparison to the memories I have of Emery and I sitting at the edge of a stream talking or the memories of the children and I hopping around the kitchen singing silly songs on one foot. It is not the fineness of my Great Grandparents house that brings my heartfelt memories, it is the memory of Nana giving me that stale old stick bubblegum.
Knowing that we can have a heart after the simple things, no matter where we live and place the right value on what matters most in life, is where happiness comes from. The joy that is still with us when we stand up, hands empty, no purse. Being content with the simple.
Understanding that
as long as we need things to make us happy, we are not truly happy.