Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. Proverbs 15:16
“The purpose of the monastic life is never to amass wealth for the sake of the self…The monastic idea is about the ability to understand the difference between need and want, between having what is necessary rather than doing without what is necessary — simply for the sake of doing without…
It is not the use of the goods required to make contemporary life possible — cars, computers, electronics, telephones… It is the over-consumption — the unmitigated greed that drives a person to have in undue measure what others have little or nothing of, to want for the self rather than for humanity…
It is the delusion of having to have at our disposal ten kinds of potato chips, thirty pairs of shoes, the biggest and best of everything, that, in the end, wars against the desire of the heart to live a simple life… When we find that we have accumulated good things in multiples and use few of them ever, it is time to give some of them away to those who have none.
It is not necessary to look poor to live a simply life. But it is necessary to love simplicity, to gather only what is necessary for ourselves, not necessarily to have the best, the most, the latest, or the most expensive, let alone to have all there is of anything.”
Joan Chittister in The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life (Collegeville: BlueBridge, 2011) 89-93.
Chittister helps us see that loving simplicity frees us from greed and positions us for generosity. We must learn to discern between needs and wants. We must be focused on “having what is necessary” so we are not consumed by that which is unnecessary.
Is it time for some Spring cleaning at your home?
Not sure where to start? My wife suggests that you take one room at a time. Simplifying does not leave you empty. Sharing all you have that is not necessary positions you to focus on what you really need and helps you begin see what others really need too.