I am working on an article on the topic of contentment and need your help! Could you share what strategies help you stay content? What are your secrets? How do you battle discontentment? Any other thoughts you want to share on the topic would be welcome as well!
Thanks and I look forward to reading your comments!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Be Content.
Simon struggles with contentment. When Jonah finishes his food first and asks for more (Jonah eats much faster), Simon asks for more too. He is not content with what he has, he thinks he needs more. He sees Jonah getting more food and suddenly the food he has (exactly the same, just a little less)is not good enough anymore. He wants what Jonah has.
Simon is not the only one who struggles with contentment. Confession time: I do too! I look around my house, see the "flaws" and want to fix them. I go shopping and see a myriad of things I want. I wish I had more money to buy new furniture. My contentment is not limited to material things. I wish my kids would obey more and cry less. I wish my hair looked better than it does. I wish my face looked better than it does. Can anyone else relate?!
Paul learned the secret. In Philippians 4:11-12 (NLT) he said "for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little." How did he do it?
I think a big part of it was that Paul had an eternal perspective. He knew how fleeting this world is (and the things in it). He believed God would take care of him. He was thankful for what he had. And, he was too busy doing what God had called him to do to spend time thinking about what he was "lacking."
When Simon wants more, I sometimes reply,"You have plenty child - take care of what you have, then maybe I will give you more. Quit comparing yourself with your brother, I will take care of your needs as well as his in my time. Be thankful and be content."
Maybe I should take my own advice.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Sorry Mom, we tried!
When my Grandpa died, my mom had 1000 daffodils planted in their front yard. Every year we try to get pictures of the grandkids in front of the daffodils. It worked the first year (Mya, Paige and a very small Raegan). It hasn't since!
We tried again this year and...
...we got nothing! Oh well, maybe next year.
We tried again this year and...
...we got nothing! Oh well, maybe next year.
The Color Green
I love Spring. This time of year the color green jumps out at you! I love it; I just can't get enough of the green showing up everywhere after the blah landscape of winter.
Every spring I pull out my Rich Mullins CD "a liturgy a legacy and a ragamuffin band" and listen to his song "The Color Green". (As a sidenote this is one of the best albums ever created in my humble opinion!) It doesn't get much better than driving down a country road with green showing up everywhere and Rich Mullins playing in the background! Praise God for Green!
In honor of spring and the color green, allow me to share the lyrics with you - although you really need the music to get the full effect!
The Color Green by Rich Mullins
And the moon is a sliver of silver
like a shaving that fell on the floor
of a Carpenter's shop
and every house must have
it's builder
and I awoke in the house of God
where the windows are mornings
and evenings
stretched from the sun, across the
sky north to south
and on my way to early meeting, I
heard the rocks crying out... I
heard the rocks crying out
CHORUS
Be praised for all Your tenderness
by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to
bless and bring to life Your land
look down upon this winter wheat
and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color
green that fills Your fields
with praise
And the wrens have returned and
are nesting
in the hollow of that oak where his
heart once had been
and he lifts up his arms in a
blessing for being born again
and the streams are all swollen
with winter
winter unfrozen and free to run
away now
and I'm amazed, and I remember
Who it was that built this house
and with the rocks I cry out
repeat chorus
Every spring I pull out my Rich Mullins CD "a liturgy a legacy and a ragamuffin band" and listen to his song "The Color Green". (As a sidenote this is one of the best albums ever created in my humble opinion!) It doesn't get much better than driving down a country road with green showing up everywhere and Rich Mullins playing in the background! Praise God for Green!
In honor of spring and the color green, allow me to share the lyrics with you - although you really need the music to get the full effect!
The Color Green by Rich Mullins
And the moon is a sliver of silver
like a shaving that fell on the floor
of a Carpenter's shop
and every house must have
it's builder
and I awoke in the house of God
where the windows are mornings
and evenings
stretched from the sun, across the
sky north to south
and on my way to early meeting, I
heard the rocks crying out... I
heard the rocks crying out
CHORUS
Be praised for all Your tenderness
by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to
bless and bring to life Your land
look down upon this winter wheat
and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color
green that fills Your fields
with praise
And the wrens have returned and
are nesting
in the hollow of that oak where his
heart once had been
and he lifts up his arms in a
blessing for being born again
and the streams are all swollen
with winter
winter unfrozen and free to run
away now
and I'm amazed, and I remember
Who it was that built this house
and with the rocks I cry out
repeat chorus
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