Last night I couldn’t sleep. I decided to read a little booklet titled “Acceptance”. I read that “….contentment consists not in getting what (I) want but in enjoying what (I) have.”
What!?!? You mean enjoying even my most difficult trial? That person or circumstance in my life that is like a constant dripping faucet? That situation that pounds relentlessly against me like the surf of the sea?
Well, let me think this through. What about the fact that this very trial, more than anything else, has driven me to the arms of my God? Maybe if my situation were more pleasing to me, I might think that I didn’t need God.
If I think this through, I really wouldn’t trade what I have for what I thought I wanted. It’s not been easy, but slowly, ever so slowly, I’m learning to be content.
5 comments:
Thanks, Nancy. This is good, tho I liked "A Pearl" even more.
God bless,
Larry
I have really enjoyed the meditations that you write. You are very talented and so articulate. I have several favorites such as My Life Preserver, Ashes, A Pearl and others. I don't know how you come up with so many meditations. Keep writing! I'm sure many are being blessed by your efforts.
See you this summer!
Cindy
Nancy,
I concur with this reflection...i was away recently in Stockbridge, Mass. for Divine Mercy Sunday...a feast of the catholic church that celebrates the mercy of God for all persons especially where their hearts are most hardened to recieve it....
i experienced that forgivenss where my judgements and resentments were greatest....we are never without hope....
thanks again for these gems
erbin
Thanks Nancy. I really needed to read this today and be reminded that God always knows what I need.
Even when I think I want something else.
God bless,
Sal
Nancy,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I can very much relate to "Contentment."
2003 was my "Year of Hell": my dad died, I had terrible back pain requiring an operation, as a result, I had to leave the only career I had known, and my girlfriend broke my heart; but those events forced me to rely on my faith in God and seek His guidance all the more. So it was also a year of grace because I felt His presence more than I ever had before or since, and the relationship with the girlfriend was the closest and longest I had ever had and it restored my faith in Love.
Today, there is less stress and I rely on God less, and I do not feel as close to him. To reverse the context of the word, I am 'content' with the status quo, and not willing to do more than what will get me by.
There are things I still need to turn over, but it seems I will not be willing until the situation gets more desperate. Though it is lower than it used to be, my threshold for pain is still quite high when it comes to asking for help.
Jeff
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