Contentment

I tried to say something to this effect on a home schooling forum to which I was adde; it fell on deaf ears. Chesterton is much more eloquent than I. Perhaps he would have broken through the log-jam.

"True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare. The absence of this digestive talent is what makes so cold and incredible the tales of so many people who say they have been "through" things; when it is evident that they have come out on the other side quite unchanged. A man might have gone "through" a plum pudding as a bullet might go through a plum pudding; it depends on the size of the pudding—and the man. But the awful and sacred question is "Has the pudding been through him?" Has he tasted, appreciated, and absorbed the solid pudding, with its three dimensions and its three thousand tastes and smells? Can he offer himself to the eyes of men as one who has cubically conquered and contained a pudding?


In the same way we may ask of those who profess to have passed through trivial or tragic experiences whether they have absorbed the content of them; whether they licked up such living water as there was. It is a pertinent question in connection with many modern problems."

From The Contented Man

Fulfilling our desires

Thinking more of cultivating a spirit of gratefulness: we must seek what we really desire.
A happy marriage? Look for the good in your spouse. Enjoy your time together, seek to make your differences areas where you grow.
Good kids? Lead them by your honest, hardworking example. Correct them gently but don't indulge them.
So often, what we really desire is SELF, so when our spouse doesn't cater to our whims, they are a jerk and we really just want our kids to let us do our thing, so we bribe & indulge them so they'll leave us alone.
Look at your actions. What do they say about what you REALLY desire?


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Thankfulness

I was out running errands today, grumbling about how I hate to shop. Then it struck me how easy it is to slip into a habit of complaining. And then, because God never passes up a teaching moment, I realized, "I have never once thanked God for being able to pay my grocery bill."
What ungratefulness.
A rather humbling realization.


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God's gift of Faith

Are you in the midst of a conversion? Re-version? Is everything so exciting? But perhaps also a little frustrating because you want more, now? Slow down. Relax. Understand, this change inside of you is ALL God's doing. You aren't doing this, nor can you. Savor it all. Enjoy right here. God is slowly drawing you in, pulling you close. He will unfold it all to you, in His time. Rest in the Lord and thank Him for the gift He is bestowing on you.