Searching for the ever elusive ... contentment...

May 30:

Living a Life that Matters… 

Philippians 4:10-14

“I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.”

Contentment. It doesn’t really fit in our culture today does it? We are raised striving to tackle the next thing… college… career… marriage… parenthood… retirement.  We are a nation of planners that rarely veers off the path we create for ourselves. We make every effort to upgrade… upgrade our jobs… our homes… our cars… our education… our relationships. All this in the quest for contentment.

I have to admit, I’ve been caught up in this madness. Chuck & I worked hard to get the education he needed to ‘succeed’ in life (he worked long hours & I waited tables), we worked hard to save to buy our first house, to move into an area where our kids would have the best opportunities, we invested so we could retire when we reached 60, Chuck took positions at work that would make him more marketable in the workplace & would bring home a paycheck that afforded us a comfortable life. We were living the American Dream & still we were not content. 

When Chuck walked away from his high powered career to become a pastor. I grieved. I grieved for the hard work ‘gone to waste’. For the things I would never have…. the home I would never own… the vacations we would never take… the opportunities our children lost… for how hard life would be. It felt like such a sacrifice then having to go back to work outside our home, not going to have my nails done every week, not going shopping or meet my girlfriends for lunch every day, not having to worry about how we would pay the bills or plan for the future.  

Here’s the surprise… I am more peaceful now than I have ever been.  Don’t get me wrong, I still have moments when I am restless… I’m actually struggling right now to be at peace in my job. Although now I feel that my anxiousness stems from somewhere deep inside my soul that is longing to DO something that really matters. What a change! God has worked so intricately & often times painfully, in my heart that I have learned to be content where I am… I no longer yearn for those ‘things’ that were once so important. 

I am content to rest in Him… to allow Him to give… & to take away… 

My life. 

My life belongs to Him. 

"May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."
- Saint Terese of Liseaux