Desperately Seeking Contentment

Paul wrote that he had learned to be content no matter what the state he found himself. (Phil 4:11-12) I have been thinking a lot about his statements as of late, and have committed my heart to the pursuit of contentment. There is so much talk about happiness and what it takes to achieve it and furthermore what would be required to maintain it. Happiness we know is fleeting and requires many variables in order to be maintained. I think it can be inferred from Paul’s statement that contentment was a learned behavior, something one would have to train their mind in order to obtain and to maintain.

I think a key component in learning contentment is to realize that in the end, we really have little control over most circumstances. Sometimes our actions instigate a reaction, but often time things happen to us that we have little to no control over at all. Our company downsizes, and we are part of the size that’s going down, or we have an auto accident that causes us to lose our transportation… any number of things can cause our situation to change. Our challenge, when circumstances change, for better or for worse is to find contentment in our present. I know often we think of the challenge of finding contentment when things are not going according to plan, but we must also learn a spirit of gratefulness when things are going according to plan. Ironic isn’t it. Oftentimes, I encounter people whose lives are going down an almost charmed path yet they feel uneasy as if something is going to come along and drastically change their happy into sad, so that even in the times of plenty, they are not content because of a sense of foreboding that inhibits them from fully enjoying the state that they’ve found themselves.

So how do we learn contentment? I believe it begins with training our minds towards gratefulness. When we cultivate the spirit of thanksgiving in our lives, even for small things, we teach our brain to think of our situations as an opportunity to recognize God’s goodness and grace in our everyday situations. In Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach, it is suggested that we keep a gratitude journal and each day write down at least five things for which we are thankful. I think if we do that and follow Paul’s other advice to find whatever is beautiful (Phil 4:8) and focus on those things, we can learn to be content, no matter what situation in which we find ourselves. I am up to the challenge, I hope that you are as well. Blessings… sk

The How in Your Wait

I was having a conversation with an artisan friend of mine, Michael K. Taylor and we got on the subject of patience. We were dissecting the word and how no matter what happens you have to wait. The conclusion we came to is that patience isn't the wait itself... for the wait itself is inevitable, but patience is the "how" in your wait.

I am waiting on a lot of things to come to pass in my life. A lot of sincere prayers that I've laid at the feet of the Most High and I am waiting on the answers and the outcome. As I am waiting on the answers, I find other things to do. My focus is on the last instructions I've received and doing my very best to be obedient to those things. My "How" in my wait most days is with expectancy and in faith. There are days however when my "How" gets more than a little raggedy. You see.. the longer the wait for the fullness of God's time.. the longer we have to doubt and to see reasons why it shouldn't or couldn't be. This wait also offers more opportunities for our faith to be matured. James 1:4 tells us to let patience have her perfect work so that we would be made mature and lacking in nothing. There is something about delayed gratification that brings about a change in the way we view things. It gives us a new set of priorities and it helps us to realize just how much this world is not all about what we want, need and think we have to have. We learn a lot about our character when we are forced to wait. We get insight into who we are and what about us is stank and needs to be made over.

I am grateful for my wait. I can say that with honesty because I have been challenged and continue to be challenged in my faith and trust in a God that wants my best. Not to make me happy, but to fill me with true joy. I am learning each day as I await the Most High's fulfillment of time that who I am is stronger than I ever thought possible, and that is because patience is working me over so that I may be mature and lacking in nothing.

It is not a matter of if we have to wait... it's how we wait. Let Patience work you over... make the decision to change how you wait.

The Greatest Love of All

In the end... we're here to do really one thing.. LOVE... Love God, Love ourselves and Love others... all of our actions generally stream out of what or whom we love. We commit ourselves to certain actions to strive to meet the needs of what we love. Sometimes this love is healthy, sometimes destructive, but in the end, the motivation is love... love of self, love of affection from others... etc.. So why don't we focus on the Greatest Love of All.. recognizing the DIVINE that lives in us and wants us to love ourselves enough to seek HIM/HER and love the Most High. We make it so complicated but in the end that's what it's all about. The ultimate love we've been searching for has been hiding in us all along. Isn't that miraculous?!

I had focused on commitment for most of 2008, committing myself to the things that bring life to my life. The things that make the most of who the Most High has created me to be, and now, that foundation is solid (by the GRACE and POWER of the Most High). On that foundation we are building a whole new life. (We meaning the Most High and I, I find myself saying WE a lot lately) A life that is built on truth and authenticity and being all that the Most High has poured into me for the betterment of the world. The challenge I issue to anyone who's eyes happen to make it across these words, what do your actions say about who and what you love? Is that who you believed yourself to be? How do you change it?