Anything bugging you today? Discontent with your job, with your finances, … with where you live?! Have you thought about what discontentment brings into our lives? Or, maybe you are not discontented. Maybe you are in a season of contentment. Life seems relatively good at the moment.
We’ve experienced both sides. One drains our energy, the other fuels it. One keeps us unsettled, the other settles us within. Let’s look at each side a little more fully, then discuss ways that can keep us more on the contented side.Let’s start with discontentment. Discontentment agitates. It puts us on edge. There is a restlessness that stirs within us and around us. We’re probably not all that pleasant to be around. We’re dissatisfied.
Discontentment whines. “I can’t believe this…and I can’t believe that… Now, they’re going to do this… ” Can you hear it? Even our voice is on edge.
Discontentment distracts. Instead of seeing the positive, discontentment amplifies the bad. It keeps me focused on what’s wrong, distracting me from my purpose and my design.
Discontentment blames. We hop from one friend to another. Or, from one job to another. Or, from one place to another. It’s always someone else’s fault. So, we jump to someone else, or to something else, or to somewhere else.
If discontentment brings such negativity into our lives, what about the other side? What does the power of contentment do for us? Let’s take a look.
Contentment satisfies. It opens the doors for peace…for peace to permeate our whole being.
Contentment releases. It releases our grip on things. It releases our grip on relationships. It releases our hold on perfectionism, or our need to control, or … whatever it might be for each of us.
Contentment brings rest. Our soul rests. Our body rests. Even those around us can breathe easier.
Contentment restores. A smile returns. A laugh escapes from our lips. Life returns to our soul.
Contentment frees us. It frees us to be who we are. It frees others to be who they are.
How can we find contentment? How can we be content amidst the things that are so disconcerting to us? Maybe it has to do with our focus. Maybe it has to do with dealing with reality.
It’s hard to see anything good when we have focused for so long on the bad. Maybe it’s time to look inside. For me, I often find that I have placed unrealistic expectations on someone or something, making them god of my happiness. That will never happen. If I’m not content now, I won’t be content then either. We birth contentment inside of us, not on the outside. Things, relationships, places, or whatever it might be for each of us won’t bring contentment. Contentment starts within.
What makes you content today? Just as discontentment seeps our energy, the power of contentment fuels our energy and brings life back into us.
So why not start today? Why not learn contentedness where we are today? What are the positives of where we are at today that will begin to birth contentment from within?
08/05/2009 at 3:00 pm Permalink
Excellent my friend… reminds me of II Cor 12 from the Message Bible…
Focusing on the limitation as a handicap instead of seeing it as a gift which allows us to access the power of God, His grace in our time of weakness.