Psa 16:6 Pleasant places were measured out for me; I am content with my heritage.
Php 4:11 Not that I am saying this to call attention to any need of mine; since, as far as I am concerned, I have learned to be content regardless of circumstances.
12 I know what it is to be in want, and I know what it is to have more than enough ā in everything and in every way I have learned the secret of being full and being hungry, of having abundance and being in need.
13 I can do all things through Him who gives me power.
1Ti 6:6 Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have.
7 For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it;
8 so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these.
When I look at these verses, I’m challenged. It’s so easy to look at what other people have that’s different or more and to want that. I know it was a real battle for me when the three of us lived in a tiny little RV for six and a half years. (For more on that go here: https://littlervonthehillside.wordpress.com/ )
We’d drive down the road and sometimes I couldn’t even look at people’s houses because I knew what I was going home to. It was so hard not to feel jealous. Not to wonder why we were having to go through such hard times. Yet, in the midst of everything, G-d did some real miracles for us and showed us many times He is with us.
We live in a house built by volunteers. It’s still not completed after all these years, but it’s livable! And when I’m tempted to be discontented because it’s part workshop and it’s not finished and it’s cluttered, I think back to that RV. I think about how we were forced into a situation that led up to both mortgages on this property being less than we could even touch a studio apartment for anywhere. We couldn’t even probably rent a room somewhere for the cost of our mortgages.
So, we went through some really really hard things. But we’re benefiting from that now. Yes, things are still kind of hard. Life is hard. But we have what we need and isn’t that what contentment is really all about?
I’ve never gone without some kind of shelter. I’ve always had a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat. Always. Was it kind of crowded at times, like in the RV? Yes. Was it sometimes because my boys and I were living with another family? Yes. But G-d provided in so many ways. He still does.
How about you? Have you thought about what contentment really means? Where do you think you are on the scale of contentment? I know the more content I am, the more grateful I am. And vice versa. It works both ways. The more gratitude I have, the more contentment I have.
Peace doesn’t always come easily. But it’s worth surrendering yourself to Him to get it. He fills me with His shalom and there is no shalom like His.
Contentment equals peace, equals shalom. There are a lot of things I wish I had handled better. But I had to go through them in order to realize I needed to change. Perhaps more importantly, I needed to be changed. I couldn’t do it on my own. I needed Him to do it in me. And loving Father that He is, He was faithful to do it.
As much as I hated some of the stuff I’ve been through, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It has helped to mold me and shape me into the kind of person I am today.
I’m still learning about this whole contentment thing. Believe me, I don’t have it down. But I’m so much farther than I was and for that I’m very grateful.
Reflections from Beit-Shalom 