Content

Content

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

WE HAD RENTED A CABIN on a lake near our home for a weekend to plan, write, and dream together. Next door, there was an older couple along with their kids and grandkids. The days were warm and beautiful, and as we’d sit out on the screened-in porch to write, we could hear the comings and goings of the family next door.

Near lunchtime one day, I heard the dad tell his young son that they were going to eat lunch and then go for a boat ride around the lake. The son asked what was for lunch, and the dad told him that he could have a hot dog, brat, or chicken. The boy then exclaimed, “But I really wanted a hamburger!”

I chuckled to myself as I heard the father patiently again tell his son the choices for lunch, explaining that they did not have hamburgers, but he should pick from the other three choices offered. Still disgruntled, the son followed his dad inside for lunch.

I sat for a few moments, pondering similar conversations I’ve had with my own children.

But then I began to think of how often discontentment happens for all of us in life. It can come in large or small ways and often starts when we are young. No one has to teach us to be discontent. And left unchecked, little things can grow and fester. How often are there many options in front of us that are God given, but all we can see is the one thing that we can’t have right in the moment? Discontentment comes when things don’t work out like we’d hoped or wanted. But as I thought about how contentment is itself great wealth and what that could mean, in the big and small things of life, I realized there is no price or dollar amount that can be put on peace of mind. Or joy. Or patience or love. All things that come with contentment. And that is priceless.

Lord, allow me to see all that you have given me. Help me to be content with where I am, even as I look to the future. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Spend time today thinking about the things God has done for you in the past. How can you be content with where you are now, even as you wait on God for other things?