Contentment

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.…

Philippians 4:11-12

 

A while back I was sitting on our back porch while my husband worked outside. That day, as with many days, I took pleasure in just looking at the woods around our house. There’s something so basic, so simple, so right in seeing that much of creation stretched out around me. As I have many times in the past I marveled at what it took for the Lord to create something so everyday ordinary as a tree. It’s nothing short of a miracle and yet it’s just there, sometimes appreciated, sometimes despised, but just…there.

That day that’s what I was too, just there. I was content to sit and look at what was around me. Happy to just enjoy the creation that the Lord put here for my use and enjoyment. Grateful for all He had done for me.

I am that way in most things. I have more clothes than I need. Some I favor, some I really don’t care for. Some fit good, others don’t. But they’re there. I have them and they serve a purpose. Because they serve that purpose I find a certain level of contentment in simply knowing they are there. If I had reason to part with them today and replace them with new ones I would have no trouble doing it. There would be maybe one or two that I would miss but they would be easily replaced with something else.

 I have a sister that truly enjoys clothes. She enjoys shopping for them, enjoys adding new clothes to the collection she has, enjoys talking about them. I’m not that way. I get no joy from my clothes. They have a purpose in my life and I am grateful to have them, grateful to have easy access to replacements when I need them but I don’t find the enjoyment in them that my sister does.

We have acres and acres of woods. I find enjoyment in being in those woods, in looking at them, in just knowing they’re there. When I’m in town I’m content and often enjoy, at least to some degree, whatever I happen to be doing.

Contentment is something I didn’t always have. I have children that often wish for this or that, long for things they don’t have, want to be places they aren’t. I was that way too, once upon a time. Thankfully the Lord took that out of me and replaced it with a deep peace and contentment.

There is much to be enjoyed by being content in whatever situation I find myself. It isn’t always easy. I have moments when contentment escapes me. Thankfully it’s usually only moments and I can find contentment by once again focusing on the many blessings I’ve been given, focusing on the Lord’s creation, on His word, and not on me.