Daily Posts...
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Am I content....are you?Funny isn’t it? How we can live with so much at our fingertips, yet still try to reach further to get more? Interesting isn’t it? How we can have the best that money can buy, yet desire for more? It’s unfortunate isn’t it? How we tend to get caught up in those things that really aren’t all that significant, and forget about that which matters most.
Why shouldn’t we be? Living in such an individualistic and materialistic culture that equates happiness with personal possessions. A dog eat dog society where putting onself ahead, looking out to oneself is the ultimate goal. But wait......haven’t we all had these feelings at one point or another....I know I have. How easy it is to desire what the neighbor has, and to want the latest device that is so carefully displayed on that device that we call a Television. I wonder how happy and content Donald Trump really is? What about Bill Gates? Why can’t we just be content with what we have, and live life to it’s fullest, to embrace what we have in each situation and stop running after what we don’t have? We are presented with a great illusion, one that needs to be broken. There’s more to life than what is in our hands. Instead grabbing after everything, it’s time to embrace what has been placed within our own two hands.
I read the other day, "I’ve learned by now to be content whatever my circumstances." I must admit I haven’t yet conquered this feat. Too often the circumstances of life dictate whether I am content or not. It goes on.... "I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little." Wow....what if everything I owned was stripped away? Would I be content with that? But there is still more... "I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty." What an amazing recipe that must be! So often if my hands are empty I am reaching for something to fill it up, looking for the latest technological advancement, the latest cell phone, maybe one of those Blackberry’s, but then there is those new Dell computer’s with those massive hard drives. It seems like hands empty is not a well liked situation.
I guess Paul understood where happiness and contentment can be found... "Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."
If there is one thing that I have come to realize is that we find contentment in this life, when we are content with who we are, and to see this we need to seek the One who made us so. Maybe it is time to stop chasing after an illusion, and start embracing reality for all it is. That reality is found in Him, and not matter what this life may throw at us, and no matter what this life may take away, we can be content and find happiness in knowing that the true meaning of life does not rely on what we hold in our hands, but what we hold in our hearts.......be blessed!
