Windows into Our Hearts

1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”


Its so easy to control our externals, the way we dress, the way we keep our house, the way we organize our pantry, the way we share just what we want others to see.  It's not so easy to change the things within us that God looks upon.   How often we show others just want we want them to see, yet on the inside we have not surrendered all to Him.  We may show anger to our loved ones.  Impatience.   We may live in fear of all the "what if's" that we imagine.    When we began our quest of living a simple life, we first did all the externals.  Farm animals, soap making, candle making, huge garden, living on less etc and those were wonderful steps to take for us, but now we can see that its so much more than those things.  Its heart work, its learning to be peaceful, content, confident about what really matters in life.  Learning to be strong enough to walk the lesser travelled path in this modern world.  Simplicity has come to mean to us, that what counts is that the Lord looks at the heart and preparing our hearts to be the same behind closed doors as they are to the public.  It is daily examining our lives and working towards changing the things we know are not right within us.   From this, we discover simple living is a natural result of having a heart towards God.   Our needs come to the surface, clearly seen as if looking at them through an open window.