How Content Are You?

My latest 'Thought for the Week' made it into the Lynn News this week - here it is, for anyone who is interested!

Finding contentment is something I believe we all struggle with, at times – probably more often than we care to admit! We look at the size of our house, the state of our garden, the ‘perfect-looking’ families, smiling from their Facebook photographs and we feel the discontent stirring within.  What is the answer to this endless conundrum?  How can we find contentment and peace in a world that screams, all the time, that we need the next thing – the best, the biggest, and the brightest?

Paul, the writer of the letter to the Philippians, in the Bible, tells us that he managed to “[learn] the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” I am amazed by this, whenever I read this verse or ponder his story.  Paul was writing this from prison, of all places, and yet was able to declare this, confidently.  

What was his secret? “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength,” he tells us.  Paul knew that he wasn’t alone but that he had to take his focus away from all that he didn’t have and place it on to all that God had given him – peace, joy, purpose and a hope for an eternal future that would more than make up for what he had suffered down here.

Recently, I read a book that really helped me in my own quest for contentment - ‘Catching Contentment,’ by Liz Carter.  I want to recommend it to you, in the hope that it will help you in your search too. The book is an achingly honest account of the author’s struggles to find contentment whilst battling a life-long disability.  Her reflections are down to earth, fully acknowledging our hard realities, but spurring us on to face them better, and with more hope.  

Whilst the book comes from the author’s experience of physical disabilities, I found it just as helpful as someone living with grief and loss. Split into chapters, with stories, reflections and prayers to help us on our own journeys, there was so much that resonated and so much to help any reader move forward with greater hope that contentment is something everyone can find.  Do buy a copy and have a read – your future self will thank you for it!