So I finished Piper's Future Grace in 2008 and have begun a new study titled Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. How was I to know it would be so timely for my life's circumstances?! Obviously God knew.
Contentment is an issue that at least one of my kids struggles with. While I don't believe I struggle with this as much as I used to, I can certainly say my child comes by this trait honestly. Thinking back to my younger years as a believer, contentment was one of my biggest "beefs" with God. Why can't you answer/fix this today? was my most frequent prayer. Homeschooling was probably (and still is) one of the areas in my life that God uses to stretch me in this thing called contentment.
Being a lover of lists and bullet points, this "prescription for contentment" jumped out at me this week as I began Dillow's book:
- Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather (ouch - how does she know where I live?!)
- Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
- Never compare your lot with another's.
- Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
- Never dwell on tomorrow - remember that tomorrow is God's, not ours.
OK ... so maybe I don't have as much of a handle on contentment as I thought. Let me just close this meditation nanosecond with one last thought from the book ... Make it a goal to possess a soul sufficiency, a peace separate from your circumstances
Philippians 4:11-13
Keep on keeping on ...
~Judy
