Contentment  

 Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”

A saying that I once heard was “People want what they can’t have and what they have they don’t want”.  I really think this saying rings true to me often. I’ve been so blessed in my life and I refuse to see those blessings and acknowledge them. I look onto other besides me and see spiritual gifts and material things that I don’t have and I desire for it and let myself become envious of them. It felt like a race to be “in” with the cool group and to have all the latest fashions and gadgets. But as soon as I acquired that “cool gadget” or article of clothing, the world had moved on from it.  It really showed me how the things of this world are fleeting and I will never find contentment or joy in them.

I would also see gifted worship leaders or pastors with so much knowledge and wisdom or women discipling others with discernment and good counsel and I’d yearn to be as good a singer as that one girl or as gifted a speaker as that pastor or to have discernment such as those women. And I would neglect the gifts and blessings that God has given me. I’d let myself live for what I wanted and sought after God not for Him but in hope of some sort of material “reward” for my faithfulness.  Something that God has really been teaching me is that while we were all made in His image, we’re all unique and diverse in so many ways.  God has blessed me with gifts and He doesn’t want me to waste them wishing for the gifts of another. I’m learning the lesson that He is enough for me and He is all I will ever need. He will never leave me or forsake me. I need not worry about where my meals are coming from or the clothes on my back, but trust in His provision.

Application:  I will pray for contentment with where God has me in this season of my life, and for me to open my eyes to how God works in my life and the ways He’s blessed me over this past week.