True and Sustainable Contentment

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. (Phillipians 4:11-13, NLT)
Have I been content with whatever I have and with whatever situation I am in? Sometimes, yes. Admittedly and sadly too often, no.

How do I obtain this deep and sustaining contentment? As with most Americans, I have learned from a world where happiness equals the pursuit of tangible and material successes and possessions. It seems as if everyone is running toward some future goal where they dream to grasp by their own earning what they perceive as their contentment.
If I can just keep going...only five more years until I retire….
Next year I’ll finally be old enough to get my driver’s license, that’s when life really begins….
Our family will finally be complete when I have children…
Once I get to college, I’ll figure it all out there…
Once I find and marry the man God has to me, I won’t feel so lonely…
When I earn my degree…
When I get that job…
When I make X amount of dollars…
When I buy that perfect home…

What if these goals we so desperately want to come to fruition never happen?

What if the largest blessing you could actually receive would be a result of you not getting what you want?

What if growing closer in relationship with your Heavenly Father meant letting His will supersede your own?

God wants our ENTIRE being. Our heart, mind, soul. How can He bless us with our desires when we are putting these worldly yearnings above our desire for Him? I don’t know about you, but I have continually learned this lesson the hard way. I’m a natural go-getter. I know what I want, and I go after it with fervor. I rely on my own abilities to achieve my desires. I could use this quality for good and for the kingdom. But too often I use it selfishly, and without the go-ahead from Him. And guess what happens? Yup. Not much good, and never long-standing peace and contentment.

We suffer from lack of contentment. We are so busy striving for one of the above mentioned scenarios or another version of "the next step" that we forget to feel gratitude and peace for our current life and the abundant love we are receiving RIGHT NOW. Too many of us define our joy (or our deluded idea of joy) by what we have accomplished or gained in our current circumstances.

In light of contentment, Chip Ingram states in a recent blog that the most important question you can ask yourself is not what have you achieved or acquired, but who are you becoming? In his words:
     “ Becoming, as God defines it, sparks many more questions: What type of person are you? How is your          soul growing? Are you kinder and more patient and more loving? Are your relationships deeper? Are            you more deeply connected to God? Are you hearing his voice like never before?”

The times when I could answer "yes" to those last five questions are the times when I have experienced true contentment.

First post! It is about time...

Ever feel like there is this thing you should be doing…you know, a thing that pops in your head from time to time and taps at your soul, nags the edge of your conscious, and makes you wish you could put down this, that, and the other obligation you must attend to that moment and go after that meaningful thing you really want to do? Instead, it evaporates in the clouds of your brain, and you put it off or think of some future date where you could squeeze this thing into your schedule easier.

I often have several of these evaporating things keeping me unsettled. 

In so many ways I wish I could let less of the busy of life in and let more of the all-encompassing love I have for my Savior fill-up and pour-out. This blog is one of those meaningful things I'm not letting drift on anymore.

When trying to come up with a title, I couldn't make it relevant to today, or five years ago, or ten years in the future. I needed to think of something that is true of my whole relationship with Him. His pursuit of me is steadfast. And it is everlasting. I am not grateful of anything in my life more than this. Throughout my days here on planet earth he has pursued me, relentlessly. It is so clear as I look over the span of my life. His pursuit has not been commanding or demanding, but instead a gentle calling. It is the discontentment of my soul when I have strayed. It is the power of His Word, the only words that bring true peace to a weary mind. It is the love that overflows from my heart when I realize how truly, madly, and deeply I am loved by Him. It is the freeing power of being forgiven, my broken and unworthy self suddenly made worthy.

This week I have been meditating on our greatest commandment, to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:36). Why are there times where it comes so naturally that this is all I want to do, and yet other times it seems the most difficult request ever created? Why am I such a wayward daughter?

He pursues me. Always. He always loves me wholly, completely, unconditionally. I want to give the same back, but how? What is happening during those times I don’t feel like loving Him back?

I have discovered there are evil forces in this world that work against me, stealing my joy. It is my love for the world, my reliance on my temporary home instead of my dedication to my permanent place for eternity that often threatens to turn me away from the truest love of my life. When my love for Him is dimmer, my love for something of the world has been heightened. I want to choose the everlasting reciprocation of love with my Father over the temporary pleasures of this world.