Contentment

My youngest daughter Zoë is 8 months old and as long as she is fed and changed at the appropriate times she is the very picture of contentment.

She is not as sophisticated as her sisters who are now aware of the ‘treats’ economy and are already developing their own agenda for what they want and when they want it. She merely takes the feed, accepts the change and as long as she is being held by someone familiar, she will be the epitome of contentment. No hassles, no quibbles, no anxieties, no issues, no quarrels – just blissful existence.

As she gets comfortable in mine or more likely her mother’s arms and finally falls asleep there is no sweeter sight of contentment I know. Very much as both her sisters used to be at a similar age. I enjoy watching it.

She doesn’t ask for much when you think about it. She doesn’t ask for that much in the way of entertainment. She’s definitely not after a PS3, iPhone or MacBook Air. She doesn’t have favourite television programmes she needs to watch. She just needs to be fed and changed and from that attention given, she will not be a nuisance at all. Of course strange environments might turn her off and like her mother and sisters she’s already picked up a degree of spiritual sensitivity, but thankfully all she’s after is those bare necessities and she’s fine.

Meanwhile nearer the other end of the age scale, my Dad has always been my role model for serenity and contentment.

Sometimes thinking of my girls at that young age, I am reminded of my Dad. He was not grasping for anything. He would not be what the world would consider to be ambitious at all. He was not following anyone’s fashion. He did not covet anything to the best of my knowledge. He knew what his duties were and just got on with it. When he was finally of an age and at a time of his life of completing his time in this country and having sorted everything out in his home back in JA, he settled back in the country of his birth.

Even when he was enduring this country, he didn’t allow much to bother him. Now in his own yard, near his beach-side and water, he is the very picture of complete contentment. He is not financially set for life, there are always issues that could be resolved, but every time I think of him and remember the last time I saw him in his crib I was just pleased to know that he was at a place where he had his basic necessities and was not going for anything else.

He didn’t need the mod-cons, he didn’t need opulence and the amassed quantity of material goods – he had a place to rest his head, he had access to food when he needed it, his beloved wife was there and there was enough clothes for his back. You couldn’t wipe the smile from his face, and more importantly you couldn’t touch the smile of his spirit as he basked in the contentment of his place in life and with God.

When considering these I’m always reminded of that part in scripture where Paul admonishes Timothy to beware of those who come in with the pursuit of riches and wealth. The love of money is what I believe he called it. Knowing how it would lead people into a web of despair and desperation, Paul warned the brother against these types. He was also swift to remind Tim that as far as he was concerned he’d knew how to abound and how to live with little to nothing at all. As far as he was concerned as long as he had some form of covering and something to eat, that was all he needed because godly contentment was what was at stake. That is to say once you’ve been sorted by God, and you know God has sorted you, then you’re sorted and there’s nothing else to be sorted.

Having that wonderful living illustration of that in my Dad, I am aware that since leaving home it’s been easy for me to fall into the trap of chasing what the money could give. I know the university years and beyond were a heavy time of learning those lessons the hard way.

The trap of debt, the deceit of credit cards, the illusion of overdraft and the mirage of bank loans. I’m not saying all these are evil in themselves. If you have the wisdom of God to use credit cards responsibly and let them serve you rather than the other way around, I won’t stop you. Experience taught me, however, that godly contentment will not be found in spending money on goods, experiences and services. I am not created to serve them and get myself in the bind of pursuing them wherever they are. Rather these blessings of God were designed for me to enjoy in their season with the wisdom from on high to know how and when to enjoy them.

So now I sit and contemplate again the riches I have in Christ. Some tangible in terms of the relationships and His material gifts. Some intangible such as the spiritual delights and experiences I enjoy in Him. I consider the cost to me of all these and realise that someone already paid the price. Now it is for me to spend a lifetime enjoying these riches in Christ and finding the greatest treasure of all to be Jesus Himself in my life. So beyond Him there’s no need for anything and through Him and Him alone I get to continue that which my Dad and daughters tap into with ease.

Contentment.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd