Simple

Simplicity - It often denotes beauty, purity or clarity. Simple things are usually easier to explain and understand than complicated ones. Simplicity can mean freedom from hardship, effort or confusion. It's something i've been thinking about. it makes me think of contentedness, joy, holiness. it makes me think of great figures in history - gandhi, mother theresa, jesus. it makes me think of people who are/were mocked or misunderstood and labeled as hippies and radicals. and it makes me think of those who consume less and give more, who reject the myth of the american dream that says if you get more, you'll be happy and successful and accepted. but, isn't it better to give than to receive? i don't think most people actually believe that. it's just something they tell their kids when they don't get what they want. but, there's profound truth in that old adage that should shape out lives. it IS better to give than to receive. that's why those who chase after what they may receive (material possessions), die still pursuing more and are never satisfied. in the end, isn't it "the simple things" in life that last and satisfy? For me it's reading, praying, making my daughter laugh, having a cup of coffee on a saturday morning with my husband, a cloudy day or a conversation with my sister. our culture tells us to go in debt in order to have a nice car, a nice house and a nice family with nice things and to spend the rest of our lives in pursuit of more, but i want to live simply.
Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is defined as a lifestyle in which individuals consciously choose to minimize the pursuit of wealth and consumption. some consider this (or environmentalism for that matter) to be a religion unto itself. therefore, people who already follow a religion (namely christianity) tend to shy away from it. to me this seems sad. if you read through the gospels, doesn't it seem like Jesus was completely counter-culture? he was the one who told us to follow him and take nothing with us, that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. i think the kingdom of God is the ultimate in simple living. that doesn't make it easy. it's difficult to reconcile His words with my reality. i feel the urge to "have nice things" (like that tv we got a few months ago that i think we are now kind of regretting) in order to prove something, even if it's just to myself. i feel like having nice things proves that we're capable adults or something, which is rediculous. as i look around our house and think about packing it up in the next month, i realize that we have extra. maybe not a lot of extra compared to some people, but extra nonetheless and i want to get rid of it, give it away, live with less, take only my slice of the pie. live simply.

Some Statistics to inspire simple living:

• Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
• The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.
• 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
  Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished.
• According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year.
• Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
• Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
• Millions of women spending several hours a day just collecting water.
  About 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s assets in 2004.
  
  photo courtesy of blogrodent on flickr