Contentment And Trust

…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

 

Philippians 4:11b

 

 

Have you ever thought about the life of a dog?

 

As long as they have food, water, a place to sleep, and an occasional walk through the park, they are the picture of contentment—they trust that someone will provide all that they need.

 

Has it ever occurred to you that contentment comes down to trust:

 

Who do I trust to provide what I need?

 

Who do I trust to look out for my best interests?

 

You could learn a lot from a dog.

 

In many ways, our lives take unexpected twists and turns that have been exciting and fun. And in other ways, it hasn't turned out at all like we had hoped. In the end, we have to decide if we trust that God is looking out for us and has our best interest.

 

If we are honest—really honest—with ourselves, we have to admit that we sometimes lack contentment because we are focused so much on what we don't have or wish that we where that we miss out.

 

There's this unspoken idea that if only certain things would happen, then life would be better, more fulfilling, more… something. But in the end, contentment really has nothing to do with circumstances but our interpretation of those circumstances.

 

Ultimately, contentment is a mind-set that ebbs and flows as we choose our point of comparison, but the big problem with all of it is that we end up missing out on the here and now.

 

So does that mean we just put on a happy face when feeling discontent?

 

Of course not!

 

For instance, sometimes discontent stems from selfish dissatisfaction, and it serves as a prompt to pay attention to where we are focused. At times, God also uses discontentment to lead us out of our comfort zone and into the next phase or season of His will for us, by producing divine discontent as a means of stirring in us the dissatisfaction that causes us to ask, "What is next, God?" And other times, discontentment simply reflects reality and the appropriate response can very well be grief.

 

Life is less about progressing toward some end point than about observing, learning, and loving well along the journey itself. When we pay attention to what is present in the here and now, we acknowledge that life has different rhythms, be them boring, energizing, productive, painful or joyful.

 

So no matter where we are in life we need to fully embrace each and every moment, believing that God is looking out for us and has our best interest… just trust Him.