Finding Contentment

By: Lorraine Dick

At the center of the earthquake in Nepal, in 2015, the residents lost everything. They were as poor as could be. Yet when the believers worshipped, they sang and danced as though they were the richest in the world. In the midst of great loss, they were content. Choosing to live thankful and satisfied lives takes time and work. David confirms this in his Psalm of Assents: … I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. (Psalm 131:2) What a picture of contentment! A child with it’s mother is content. Can we be content in a similar way? When we were younger, contentment came to us through activity and being part of the crowd. As we age, contentment is compared to peacefulness.

We’ve all known discontent. There have been times when we longed for someone or something and it did not come or did not satisfy. If one’s focus is on discontent, it can lead to disquiet. Yet it also helps us to explore new things. Contentment is about “fearing the Lord which leads to life; then one rests content ….” (Proverbs 19:25) Things never satisfy. Our consumer mindset says: There is always one more thing to get … and then it will be good. Learning to receive things gratefully and then living thankfully and contentedly with them should become part of our life goals.

In the midst of disturbing circumstances, we do not have to plead for peace, entreat God for peace, beg for peace, and hope it will come. It is there quietly waiting for us to let it rule in our hearts.

Then what is the key which enables us to let peace in?

Be thankful! Thank God for His goodness at this moment! Even in the darkness, He is there. Thank God for what you have and ask no more, then peace will come. Wishing for that which we do not have only makes for unrest. Nothing but thankfulness can bring contentment … and contentment brings peace. (from: A Blade of Grass  by Gladys and Gordon De Pree  pg. 135)