Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5, ESV

I have noticed something from watching my grandkids that I believe reveals one of the secrets of true contentment: When they are busy with simple things, they are pretty happy.

For example, my wife recently bought a large set of tiny toy figures that our niece had outgrown and brought them to the worship in a bag one night. Our three-year old granddaughter asked her what was in a bag she had brought and when she found the little toys she immediately showed her big brother (all of four) and they sat down contentedly on a pew where they were occupied for a full hour. 

A day or two earlier, we had a surprise visit from our other set of grandkids. The six- and seven-year-old occupied themselves with a plastic bat and ball set, while our nearly two-years old grandson gave his full attention to a small kitchen set, only occasionally taking a break to lap up some water from a puddle on the ground or the backyard birdbath. Before you turn us in for child endangerment, his mother stopped him immediately as soon as she saw what he was doing.

My point in all of this is that kids seem to make themselves content with whatever they have available. Whether it was some toys that had only cost a few cents each, a $6 bat and ball set complete with a ball launcher, or a donated kitchen set from a friend, they were genuinely happy. And I know from experience that this is not a "one-off" situation, because the smaller ones cannot wait to get ahold of the bag of small toys again, and the other grands have played with the same kitchen set for years.

It brings back memories of my own childhood when I rode the same bike, year in and year out, played catch with a "pitch-back" or shot hoops for hours on end. Like my grandkids, if I got bored with my outdoor activities, I just came inside and read a book. (Fortunately for me, my grandkids are still at the "getting read to" stage, so I get to enjoy that part, too.) 

And when I was growing up, there was the soda pops! I can still remember getting ice-cold Dr. Peppers when we would visit my grandparents or my favorite aunt. That was back before they ruined the flavor with corn syrup sweetener instead of the pure cane sugar of my youth. I can still feen the burn of that tasty liquid on my throat, and the way it made my eyes water when I took too big of a sip. It is the stuff that memories are made of, to be sure.

I guess what I'm getting at is that it is the simple things in life that often make us the most contented. It's true that our grands will probably prefer video games as they get older, then fancy cars, and then big houses. However, if memory serves me, video games have a way of hypnotizing us into a perpetually bored state (just look at the faces of those who play them too much), fancy cars eventually need fancy-priced repairs, and the big houses come with big bills that must be paid. Before too long, we are no longer content with our big-boy toys, cars and houses, and we are left anything but content.

The inspired writer of Hebrews had it right. If we can keep our lives free from the love of money (as well as the things money can buy) and learn to savor those simple pleasures that are often little more than the things that are right in front of us, we will learn what true contentment is. And of course, for the Christian, this will mean that the real source of contentment is the One who will never leave nor forsake us... even when we are trying to lap up that nasty puddle-water that grabs our attention from time to time.

Are you content? If not, maybe it's time to re-focus on the One from whom all true contentment comes from in the first place. Perhaps then we can learn to enjoy all of life's simple pleasures.