Yup...that's right, folks! Today is my birthday. The 35th one. I can hardly believe it. I still feel like the little girl who wore pigtails and bobby socks to church. But those days are looooooong gone.
Truthfully, I am happier today that I thought I would be. When I was younger and pictured my future self, the 35-year-old me was always a medical doctor and married to the love of her life and raising the best children ever. None of that is true. So I thought that I would be lamenting that fact.
But I'm not. I have reached a point in my life where I can say like Paul, I have learned that whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. (Phil. 4:11). Would I like my life to have looked a little more like how I envisioned it would when I was a child. Absolutely. But do I think that I am a failure or "less than" because it doesn't? Absolutely not.
Contentment is something that a lot of Christians, including me, often struggle with. There are two possible reasons for that:
1. We oftentimes confuse contentment with complacency. We end up feeling like we if are satisfied with our current state, we lack ambition or we are not exercising faith to do more. That is simply not the case. Complacency is a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like. Contentment on the other hand is satisfaction or ease of mind. Therefore, the content person can still be upwardly mobile and ambitious. He or she wants to grow and operate to their full potential, while remaining thankful for current blessings.
2. We are trying to fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life. This is sadly more often the case than we like to admit. We so often think that there is something wrong with where God has placed us for the season that we are in. And rather than be thankful to Him and content with the blessings that we have (whether many or seemingly few), we seem to be going after one thing or another in attempt to fill a void that can only be filled by God Himself.
The inconvenience of Christianity, however, dictates that we ought to be content with our present situation, no matter what it is. Not contentment to the point of complacency, but rather contentment, recognizing that there is nothing we have absent the hand of God.
So no, the man of my dreams does not call me "wife." And no, there are no little ones that call me "mother." But Almighty God, the Creator of the universe who neither faints nor grows weary calls me His own. That's not a consolation prize. That's contentment.
Truthfully, I am happier today that I thought I would be. When I was younger and pictured my future self, the 35-year-old me was always a medical doctor and married to the love of her life and raising the best children ever. None of that is true. So I thought that I would be lamenting that fact.
But I'm not. I have reached a point in my life where I can say like Paul, I have learned that whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. (Phil. 4:11). Would I like my life to have looked a little more like how I envisioned it would when I was a child. Absolutely. But do I think that I am a failure or "less than" because it doesn't? Absolutely not.
Contentment is something that a lot of Christians, including me, often struggle with. There are two possible reasons for that:
1. We oftentimes confuse contentment with complacency. We end up feeling like we if are satisfied with our current state, we lack ambition or we are not exercising faith to do more. That is simply not the case. Complacency is a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like. Contentment on the other hand is satisfaction or ease of mind. Therefore, the content person can still be upwardly mobile and ambitious. He or she wants to grow and operate to their full potential, while remaining thankful for current blessings.
2. We are trying to fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life. This is sadly more often the case than we like to admit. We so often think that there is something wrong with where God has placed us for the season that we are in. And rather than be thankful to Him and content with the blessings that we have (whether many or seemingly few), we seem to be going after one thing or another in attempt to fill a void that can only be filled by God Himself.
The inconvenience of Christianity, however, dictates that we ought to be content with our present situation, no matter what it is. Not contentment to the point of complacency, but rather contentment, recognizing that there is nothing we have absent the hand of God.
So no, the man of my dreams does not call me "wife." And no, there are no little ones that call me "mother." But Almighty God, the Creator of the universe who neither faints nor grows weary calls me His own. That's not a consolation prize. That's contentment.
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