content with life as it is?

The new year for me has begun with a lot of thinking about contentment. It's challenging to think about. And it has challenged me on what I think being content means. As I've thought about it and read about it, I've realized being content has a much broader definition than I thought. Now, I'm not one who likes change, so I may seem content with things the way they are, but the truth is that there are places in my life where I'm definitely discontent.

I guess I've often seen contentment as being happy with the way things are and not wanting anything more. But, I'm beginning to see that you can be content, but still have hopes and dreams for the future. I read a quote in a book I'm reading that put it clearer than I probably can, so here it is:

Contentment serves as a guard against desires gone wild. It is the key to unlock you from the bondage of unrestrained longing that wells up within your heart and inevitably begins to control your life, making you a slave to what you don't have instead of a fully engaged participant in what you do. It is the faith-filled belief that what God has bestowed now is worthy of gratitude and appreciation, not merely because it is enough but because it is good.
By choosing contentment, you're not getting rid of your desires; you're just demanding that they assume an appropriate, humble position in your life, not bossing you around like a tyrannical dictator forcing you to submit to his ever-growing and ever-changing list of demands. It means you no longer allow you yearning and aspirations to control you, to rob from you the full use of and gratitude for what you've currently been given, leaving you unable to enjoy this because He hasn't seen fit to give you that. (Priscilla Shirer, The Resolution for Women, pg. 28-29)

That's a much broader definition of contentment than I had in my mind.

And it's a definition that challenges me. There are hopes and dreams I have in my life - some that I wish had already happened. If I get focused on them, it is pretty easy to become discontent with life. And then I miss out on all that is in my life currently - all that God has provided for me right now.

At another point in the book, Priscilla Shirer says something else that challenged me for the times when I begin to grow discontent with life and start being controlled by desires for something more or something different:

When you've concluded that what you already have on hand is enough, that it's adequate - that it's been deemed by God as sufficient - then you're equipped and empowered to participate fully in the tasks set before you during this season of life. . . . Your God can be trusted to grant you the supply you need to excel at His purposes. So if you don't have it - whatever it is - it's because you don't need it. You may want it, but it's not necessary in order to accomplish what He knows is most important for your life today. Otherwise, He'd have given it to you. He lives you too much to 'withhold the good from those who live with integrity'. (Psalm 84:11)" (Priscilla Shirer, The Resolution for Women, pg. 20-21)

What I have now is what I need for now. What you have now is what you need for now. That's not the natural way to think - not the easy way to think or live. But God does supply our needs - not necessarily everything we want - but what we need for that time in our lives. And that is why we can be content even when we have hopes and dreams for the future.

Scripture talks about contentment as well. And holds it up as something to be esteemed and valued.

"True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth." (1 Timothy 6:6, NLT)

"If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied)." (1 Timothy 6:8, AMP)

"Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you'." (Hebrews 13:5, NASB)


As a new year begins this has been challenging, but good, to reflect on. What about you?

What does contentment look like to you? How would you define contentment?

Are you content? Or are you discontent with things around you and missing the good things in your life right now?

the beginning of a new year

A new year has begun and like many people do, I have spent some time reflecting on the last year and looking ahead to what is coming. It's easy to do that strictly in terms of events in my life. Much has happened and much will happen. But that's not exactly where my thoughts have been focused. God has been at work and He will continue to be at work in my life . . . and in yours . . . even if we don't always see it.

One of the CDs I got Christmas this year has quickly become a favourite of mine. There is a song on the CD that has become a declaration of sorts for me going into 2012.



The whole song declares Who God is and that He is greater than anything else. The chorus is the part that first jumped out at me.

I'm running to Your arms

I'm running to Your arms

The riches of Your love

Will always be enough

Nothing compares

To Your embrace

Light of the world

Forever reign

That's exactly what I want to do in 2012. Run to God's arms in everything that happens - whether good or bad. It's the place to run because the riches of His love will always be enough.

My prayer for 2012 is that the words to the chorus of that song would be the words I sing (in my heart or out loud) in every circumstance. And I pray they would be true for you as well.

treasure . . . ponder . . .

According to the clock on my computer it's been December 24 for 2 minutes right now. Christmas Eve. How did it get here so fast? Seriously. I'm sure that it was just the beginning of December a couple days ago! Things in life seem to be going by so fast lately.
When I stop to think and realize how fast time seems to be going, I find myself starting to wonder if this is how life is really supposed to lived? I mean, did Jesus come to earth as the promised and long-awaited Messiah for us to just try to fit Him into the busy-ness of our lives? Is life meant to be so busy we feel like days or weeks or months have just disappeared?

I think we miss a lot when we just allow life to pass us by. But sometimes that seems like all we can do as we try to keep up. And then when we do stop for a moment, we realize that far too much time has passed us by and we don't even remember how we used that time.

I wonder what things would be like if we didn't allow time to pass by as we were busily running from one thing to the next. What if we took time to stop and savour every conversation with someone? Every sunset or sunrise? Every night sky? Every moment of beauty we see? What would life be like then? I don't think we would so often stop to find that days just seem to have disappeared.

It makes me wonder if Jesus' birth was one of those moments for Mary and Joseph, for the shepherds, for the wise men. One of those moments where they did stop to take it all in. It was a world-changing event. God come to earth in human form. Scripture tells us that "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19, NIV). It seems to me like Mary was taking the time to really stop and notice all that was going on, rather than just allowing things to slip by.

It's something that has come up on more than one occasion for me in this last month. Those words from Luke 2:19. Maybe there's a reason. Maybe I need to stop and do the same thing as Mary did. Maybe, just maybe, I need to stop and treasure the moments with family and friends, the beauty that surrounds me where I live, the incredible gift from God that we're celebrating during this season.

After all, I have much reason to thank God for all He has given me:
-for sisters and brother-in-laws that are all here to spend time with
-for parents who love all their kids
-for laughter with family gathered around the table
-for a job that I love most days
-for a church that I can be involved in and a church family that cares
-for friends that make my life better just by being a part of it
-for a good place to live and more than enough food
-for freedom to worship and follow God
-for a God that loves us all enough that He would stop at nothing to reconcile us to Himself
-for the gorgeous part of the world God has provided for me to live in
There's so much more I could add. And so much of that I don't even notice in a day. The moments that could be treasured are passed by without a second thought.

But, the good thing is that can change. I can choose to treasure and ponder those things. And so can you. We may not always get it. We may get caught up in the busy-ness of life from time to time. We may take things for granted sometimes. But, when we find ourselves doing so, we can choose again to treasure those moments, to ponder the significance of them. We don't have to stay caught up in a life that passes us by without us knowing it. We can choose a different way.