Learn Contentment

Living far away from family, it took us 10 years to find the opportunity to go on a trip without our children. After a restful week away, we returned first to find a sick child. Next, we discovered our house had flooded while we were in paradise. As the story goes, everyone was outside playing and someone used the potty, and then it began to overflow. The mystery flusher was too afraid to tell someone that the toilet was going crazy. Our son, Josh, wondered in a bit later and found water an inch deep all over the floor downstairs. After insurance estimates, a drying treatment, 6 months of gluey floor being ripped up, carpet ripped out to be dried and cleaned, a new floor appeared. 

You see, sick children, flooded houses, etc. are circumstances. I have been challenged to ask myself, “How often do I let my circumstances dictate my attitude?” The answer would be fairly often if I am being honest. Phil. 4: 11-13 NIV84, says “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Linda Dillow, a former missionary, writes, “…true contentment is separate from our circumstances. Contentment is a state of the heart, not a state of affairs…When we are confronted with negative circumstances, we have a choice: Will we pray about the problem or will we worry about it?” Linda Dillow goes on to say in her book, “Calm My Anxious Heart,” that we must practice this kind of attitude. Practice is boring, not fun and must be done over and over. Phil. 4:9 tells us to practice praying and thinking about the positive rather than worrying and being negative. 

Prayer:  “Dear Lord, may we practice contentment. Let us recount all you have done for us. May we be known as women who seek you, trust you and praise you. Help us overcome our negativity and endless “if only’s” and choose to let our lives be dictated by You rather than our circumstances. Let us fix our eyes on you and our eternal home, rather than on all that is circumstantial and temporary. May we memorize Philippians 4:4-13 and let it play like a tape recorder in our thoughts.”

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