Contentment

I have decided that I am a pretty fickle kind of girl. I go back and forth between being totally content with everything in my life to being totally dissatisfied. Let me give you an example. I was in one environment at the beginning of last week that made me so thankful for my home. I walked inside and thought, "Ya know, I am really blessed to have a home like I have." Every room brought me a sense of thankfulness and I was able to look past all the things that "need" updating. Fast forward to the end of the week. I went into a beautiful house, the kind that looks like every room was decorated by an interior designer. Flat screen televisions in every room, stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, beautiful light fixtures, etc. I came home after that experience and was disgusted by everything I saw. Every single room "needed" something done to it to make it even close to acceptable. Can anyone relate to what I am talking about?

With my girls, one week I think they have everything they need. Then I hang out with a group of moms and listen to them discuss recent purchases and immediately start to think, "Well, Reagan needs that too!" It can be clothing, devotion material, a DVD, a craft activity, ....anything.

Why am I like this? I know that God desires contentment and thankfulness. I want to be content and thankful. I want to enjoy where I am today and all the blessings that God has placed in my life. The "American Way" is to buy, buy, buy. We aren't content. We aren't thankful. Once we have made that purchase, that item that we just had to have, we focus our attention on the next must have item.

I already see this behavior in Reagan. She loves to go to Target and Wal-Mart because she wants to get something. It can be anything! She just wants to get something. When she is at home she will see something advertised on TV and ask me for it for weeks. I will finally get it for her and she will play with it for a day or two and then throw it to the side. As a parent, I want her to be thankful. I want her to realize the blessings that she has and all the good things in her life, and how differently things could be. I guess this is too much to ask of a 3 year old. But it isn't too much to ask of an adult believer. God desires the same thing of me. He desires that I live in a state of thankfulness.....thankful for everything.... my family, my home, my clothes, my material possessions, my health, my salvation,.......

My parents model contentment for me. In prosperous times and in lean times they love each other, they love their lives, they love their children and grandchildren, they love their home, they love their church, etc. When it comes time to buy them a birthday gift or a gift for Mother's Day or Father's Day, they always say they don't need anything. They cannot think of one thing they want. I, on the other hand, always have a list of things I want. It is September and I am ready for Christmas....ya know what I mean? How did they get to such a place of contentment and thankfulness?

Maybe I'll arrive one day. Until then I will continue to pray about my desires and ask God to give me an appreciation for all the things that I have.