Contentment

An Amish boy and his parents were visiting a mall. While the mother looked for cotton fabric for a new apron, the father and son stood around, amazed by almost everything they saw. They were especially amazed by two, shiny silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, "What is that, father?" The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don't know what it is."

"Could it be a time machine?" asked the boy. “I heard about this movie picture show where people leave the earth in shiny vehicles.”

"Praise the Lord", said the father. "There sure are miraculous things in the city."

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed, and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up. They continued to watch until the last number was reached, and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.

Finally, the walls opened again and a gorgeous 24-year-old woman stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son, "Go get your mother."

While this is a humorous story, it does illustrate the human condition, at least in this part of the world. We are rarely content. We want bigger...we want better...we want faster...we want more.

This past Sunday, my home church showed the first of a three part series that Dave Ramsey did concerning money. He had a lot to say about this subject. In fact, he said that contentment is so important, that it is the most powerful Biblical financial principle there is. More powerful than saving and even more powerful than giving.

I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with him on his ranking of this, but I will agree that it is incredibly important when it comes to our finances. I also believe it is a key ingredient in our spiritual health as well.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5

Mistakes

Yesterday morning I was leading our Truth At Work group that meets every third Wednesday of the month. In the first 60 minutes of our four hour time together we typically go through a case study which sheds Biblical truth on a business issue. This month I was to share a video which went along with a workbook each member has.

About 10 minutes into the video, I realized that the video did not match up with the outline in our books. I had a surge of panic go through my body. I had brought the wrong DVD! I immediately began to run down my list of options. None were very good.

So, I did something out of character for me. I just let it go.

At the end of the 40 minute video, I explained that I had obviously made a mistake. Everyone in the group seemed a little surprised because they each mentioned how awesome the message in the video was. In fact, they wanted to see parts 2 and 3 to the video I showed.

So even in my mistake, God used it for good. I hope I can remember this and regularly apply this to my life so that I can chill out and not fret about it when things don't go as I had planned!

For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Philippians 4:11b

Contentment

Sarah's grandson is playing in the water, while she is standing on the beach not wanting to get her feet wet, when all of a sudden a huge wave appears from nowhere and crashes directly over the spot where the boy is in the ocean. The water recedes and the boy is no longer there. He simply vanished.

Sarah holds her hands to the sky and cries, "God, how could you? Have I not been a wonderful mother and grandmother? Have I not prayed dilligently? Have I not given faithfully to you through my church? Have I not tried my very best to live a life that you would be proud of?"

Just then, another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the boy is standing there, smiling, splashing around as if nothing had happened.

A loud voice booms from the sky, "I have returned your grandson. Are you satisfied?"

Sarah responds, "Well...he WAS wearing a hat."

Do you know anyone like this? Someone who never seems to be satisfied...even when they get what they want? Is this you?

One of the keys to living a life filled with joy is to find that place of contentment, even when you DON'T get what you want. This takes trust. Trust in God that He knows what is best for you. Getting to this place will please your Father...and it will make you pretty happy too!

"...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

Philippians 4:11b

Contentment

On my drive to Archbold, Ohio (about an hour west of Toledo) for some meetings this morning, I finished up listening to the story of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson on tape (Standing Like a Stone Wall by James Robertson, Jr.). This was loaned to me by a good friend as it is not something I would normally listen to or read. It really surprised me--it was quite good and filled with some great leadership nuggets.

At the very end of Stonewall Jackson's life, he had been shot during the Civil War and was losing lots of blood. They decided to amputate his left arm and as he was recovering, the chaplain was very concerned with the fact that Jackson's arm could not be saved. Jackson answered him, "This is a blessing from God that I do not understand. I shall know what it means either in this world or the next. I am perfectly content."

How cool is that?!

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 in through Him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:12-13

Contentment

Yesterday I wrote about being self-focused – worrying about our problems. I just read an article that once again changed my perspective. In the article, the authors (Paul Brand and Philip Yancey) had this to say:

Isaac Newton said, "In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence." After 40 years as a surgeon specializing in hands, I am tempted to agree. Nothing in all nature rivals the hand's combination of strength and agility, tolerance and sensitivity. We use our hands for the most wonderful activities: art, music, writing, healing, touching.

Some people go to concerts and athletic events to watch the performance; I go to watch hands. For me, a piano performance is a ballet of fingers—a glorious flourish of ligaments and joints, tendons, nerves, and muscles. I try to sit near the stage to watch the movements.

Unless you have tried to reproduce just one small twitch of the hand mechanically, you cannot fully appreciate its movements. Often I have stood before a group of
medical students or surgeons to analyze the motion of one finger. I hold before them a dissected cadaver hand, with its trailing strands of sinew, and announce that I will move the tip of the little finger.

To do so, I must place the hand on a table and spend about four minutes sorting through the tangle of tendons and muscles. Seventy separate muscles contribute to hand movements. But in order to allow dexterity and slimness for actions such as
piano playing, the finger has no muscle in itself; tendons transfer the force from muscles higher in the arm. (Body-builders should be grateful: imagine the limitations on finger movement if the fingers had muscles that could grow large and bulky.) Finally, after I have arranged at least a dozen muscles correctly, I can maneuver them to make the little finger move. Usually, I give this demonstration to illustrate a way to repair the hand surgically. In 40 years of surgery, I have personally operated on perhaps 10,000 hands. I could fill a room with surgery manuals suggesting various ways to repair injured hands. But in those years I have never found a single technique to improve a normal, healthy hand. That is why I am tempted to agree with Isaac Newton.

This made me stop and realize that no matter how bad things seem, they really aren't that bad. We always have something to be thankful for no matter our circumstances - even if it is for a seemingly insignificant (yet amazing) thing as our thumbs. Let’s be thankful and content with what we have.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6