Have you ever thought - am I content? If I am not why not? If it has anything to do with stuff and circumstances then we don't understand what being content means! I believe the world contributes to our struggles with this -- if we continue to look around us we will always find things look better somewhere else -- however if we can look up then we will see that right here is where we are supposed to be and God is continually blessing us -- whether big or small - we just need to look!
What can I do to help with being content? here are some ideas that I have thought of or heard from others over the last few weeks:
- cancel catalogs - are they really necessary - do they leave me wanting?
- stop excess magazine subscriptions that fuel the "i need to be like that mentality"
- go to the store when you need something - not just to look around
- internet shopping can be addictive -- wow free shipping I have to buy something
- make a list of your blessings
- work at discerning wants from needs -- tough, tough, tough
- spend time thanking God for all you have (not just tangible things)
- get out and help others and get your mind off yourself
- stop complaining to others -- this feeds discontent
- choose to seek counsel instead of airing a complaint - change the way you phrase it!
- choose what you are going to confess with your mouth - don't lie and say everything is great - but think before you speak
SO for me it is time to ask God to provide me with a new perspective and hold me accountable to the things he has shown me lately! and thank goodness for my trusted friends to speak truth into my life - you know who you are:)
2 comments:
It is so amazing that sometimes kids can speak things to us that we wouldn't take the same way from someone else. They see with such a clearer vision then we can because we always have something taking up our time whether it is necessary or not.
Contentment to me is when my soul and mind are not racing. When there is nothing that is making me feel uneasy or something that I want to run from. Only then do I know that I truly have decluttered things out of my life and filled it with the things that God is needing me for.
Every since this past year when I really went back to working more, I knew that something had to go, but what. Everything was not overly or mentally taking, but as a whole were really getting me down. Do I stop cleaning,driving bus or catering. I can't believe how much relief I felt with weeding one job out. Do we feel the loss in income? Yes. That was more then I wanted to give up, but the one that was the biggest time away from my family.
I like the idea of getting rid of the things that we don't need which are not necessary to cloud our minds with. Images are really a strong view for me. I am not an impulse buyer, but can easily be discontent with unmaterialist things.
jll I love how you describe content as a feeling-- when your soul and mind are not racing -- that reminds me of how I describe peace in myself -- the overwhelming calmness I feel even in the midst of the chaos of raising kids. Thanks for more word pictures.
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