Contentment

'Contentment is not getting what you want, but being satisfied with what you have'

  

This one liner has been stuck in my head for more than a decade now. I was asked to make a poster with these words for one the annual Navodaya youth camp in 2001, and have remembered it ever since. Over the years, I've been learning more and more about contentment. The more I choose to be content, the more I am at peace. Now that I am a stay-at-home mommy, and my husband is the only person working, the need to be content is more :) and trust me, it is rewarding. But there are times when I do tend to sway by things and people around me, but God always reminds me 1Timothy6:6-11 from the Bible. ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

I am writing this post as reinforcement for myself about contentment. I recently came across a beautiful saying on a blog that I accidentally came across; yeah yeah I do a lot of 'accidental' reading. So the other day I started with a link on DIY and ended up clicking away as usual, form one link to another, making sounds of admiration and now and then. I love reading blogs on creative stuff, anything from home decor to DIY. I am inspired by creativity, the ideas that some people come up with are simply mind blowing.

 And then, something caught my attention. A saying by Jon Acuff and a comment in the blog 'The Shabby Creek Cottage' 

"The understanding that people are more important than things, the reminders about contentment, making the best of where we are at while realizing that this life is only temporary. So refreshing!" (Comment on the blog)

 How profound! Sometimes we simply start to feel inferior when we see some one's accomplishments or things. I think it’s one way of not being content with ourselves or what we have. We will never know how long and hard they had to work, to be where they are now, or have what they have now. 

Also, when we are content, it gives us an opportunity to see how much more we have and enjoy in life, when compared to the millions of people and children who die every day due to starvation and lack of basic essentials in life. 

God Bless.