One
teardrop said to the other,
“Who
are you?”
The
teardrop answered. “I’m a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him.
And who are you?”
“I’m
a teardrop from the girl who got him.”
Like in this
story, in life, we go after things thinking they will make us content only to
find that after we got them we aren’t better off than we were when we didn’t
have them.
If the girl who lost the guy met with the girl who
got him maybe, she will realize she dodged a bullet. If the girl who got him
would meet the girl who lost him maybe, she would realize she got a gem (there
is a joke in here somewhere).
What does it mean to be content? Let us define it the way God’s word defines
it:
Contentment is having
a heart that is at rest from knowing that we are right with God and that…in all
seasons…in all situations…. God is in control of everything that happens to us.
Like the psalmist says, “The righteous man shall not be moved; He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings; His heart is firmly fixed, trusting in the lord.”(Psalms
112:7)
This is contentment, when your heart is fixed on
trusting God, it doesn’t matter what comes your way.
Sometimes, contentment can be an elusive chase.
Because we might find that we are content, today then, something happens to us
tomorrow and our contentment goes out the window.
Here are some few ways that I do to deal with
discontentment;
Thanksgiving
and praise
This was King David’s secret of being content.
I
am in pain and in distress; may your salvation O God, protect me.
I
will praise God’s name in a song and magnify
Him with thanksgiving.
(Psalms
69:29-30)
David had a revelation he could choose to either
magnify his pain and distress or magnify God. He chose the latter.
How did he magnify God?
He brought Him a song of praise and thanksgiving.
He
is pain…. He is in distress…But instead of
magnifying his pain and distress by focusing on it, he shifts his focus on the goodness
of God.
He takes a different road and instead of looking at
what he didn’t have, He thanked Him for what he did have.
Something
changes whenever I do this. Suddenly I see things I didn’t see before. I see
the little day-to-day miracles. All of a sudden all my blessings are brought to
light… I see His joy… I see His provision for things I don’t even need yet I
have them ….I see His unfailing love, sometimes, through other people; I see
His goodness in the answered prayers.
Praise
is a deliberate consideration of God’s attributes and choosing to dwell on them.
So go ahead consider His Amazing attributes and
choose to dwell on them.
Learn
to be content
Contentment is not a gift of the Holy Spirit that we
can pray for and unexpectedly wake up one day contented. It’
something we learn, it’s more like a
fruit, it has to be cultivated , it has to be watered ,it has to be grown(ouch!). Paul
exemplifies this for us.
I
know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation.(Philippians 4:12)
It dint come naturally to him; He dint wake up one
day and behold contentment had stole up on him. He had to learn day in day out,
situation by situation. It was a process.
Maybe we need to make a choice and decide we will be
content no matter where we find ourselves. If we are single, we will be
content; if we get married, we will be content. If we have jobs we love, we
will be content; if we don’t like our jobs we will be content anyway. If we get
to live our dreams, we will be content; if we never get to live our dreams, we
will still be content.
Let us learn how to be and grow in contentment.
Subsequently, we will find ourselves enjoying God’s blessings more. We will no
longer live in regret of the time we wasted because we were busy looking somewhere
else.
Change
of perspective
Sometimes, we
find ourselves discontented because we are looking at things from the wrong
perspective. A change of perspective would probably make a huge difference.
Here is an example.
A
woman who wakes up one day and thinks, “This house is a mess, I will never be
able to rest today. My husband and kids are ungrateful and lazy.”
Same
woman wakes up the next day and thinks, “I live in a nice house, and I can rest
if I want to, my husband works hard to pay the bills, my kids are a gift from
God and I am not alone.”
I bet you that her two days will be as different as
day and night. Why? Because what she chooses to focus on sets the tone for her
day.
Here
is a fact; a discontented single will make a discontented spouse. A
discontented employee will make a discontented boss. A discontented woman
without a child will be a discontented mother.
Other times, we think that if things will change
then we will be content and happy.
A
man shared a room with nine other people.
Troubled, he goes to see his pastor for some advice
He
says, “Life is unbearable; there are nine of us living in the same room. What
can I do?”
His
pastor tells him, “Take your goat into the room with you.”
He
was a bit skeptical but his pastor insisted, “Do as I say and come back in a
week.”
A
week later, the man returned looking even more flustered than before.
“We
can’t stand it. The goat is filthy.” He told his pastor.
His
pastor said, “Go home and take the goat out, then come back in a week.”
A
week later the man returned joyful and exclaimed, “Life is beautiful! We enjoy
every minute now that there is no goat. It’s just the nine of us now.
Sometimes, all we need is
a different outlook and our situation doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
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