This is a tough blog to write because this is something I am struggling with right now…learning to be content in my current situation.
It’s easy when things are going fine to say you are content. But for the past month or so, things are far from fine. Staying at home every day, we try to find ways to stay positive. We’ve been hoping we will all be able to get back to our lives the way we used to, but to be honest, it will never be the same.
I have not been content to stay at home day in and day out. I am not content not seeing my children and grandchildren. Contentment is so far from where I am in this moment. Thanks to a weeklong toothache, I am not content to wait as long to get into a dentist.
But this moment will pass and I will learn to live within my new circumstances as they unfold. I can’t control everything that happens but I can control how I respond to things that happen and learn to be content in my current situation.
Being content allows you to be able to enjoy life fully, no matter your circumstances. I guess that’s what is so hard about the present moment. I can be content and I usually am. But I’ve been focusing on the things I’m missing most. Getting together with the people I love. This new normal is different, but it’s getting me through. — talking more on the phone, FaceTime, visiting at a distance. I’m thankful we can still do even that. Some people don’t have that luxury anymore.
People who are content aren’t taken in by material goods. Flashy cars and jewelry aren’t their style. They are happy with what they have. They live simply. They don’t complain. They value people more than things. People who are content are givers. They will do without something in order to give joy to someone else.
I’ve found the key to being content is acknowledging and enjoying the presence of God, knowing that He has provided everything that we could possibly need.
In school I was taught the 3 basic needs: Food, Shelter and Clothing. There’s a difference between what you need and what you want. Be content with the needs and grateful for the wants, when you get them.
God knows what you need. He provides. He gave us the Lord’s Prayer in the book of Matthew 6:11. “Give us this day our daily bread.” This prayer covers our needs for each day.
A friend told me recently that she has lost everything in her life, but she still has Jesus. I told her, “He is all you ever need.”
Do you believe that God has given you all you will ever need? Are you content?
God bless.—Barb
