Tag Archives: Discontent

Chapter-a-Day

The Shift

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The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!“
Numbers 11:4 (NIV)

There is a classic family video of when the girls were toddlers. One of their favorite toys were Polly Pockets, tiny plastic dolls that came with their own little pocket-sized doll houses. The girls want to take their Polly Pockets to bed with them, and I wouldn’t let them because they were a choking hazard. Oh, my goodness. Complete and utter emotional breakdown. So much so, that I just had to grab the video camera and video tape the moment. It is etched in my memory and ever reminds me of life’s meltdown moments.

Along my life journey, I’ve come to observe that adults have similar emotional meltdowns as toddlers, we’re just more sophisticated at it. In fact, as I meditate on it I can think of at least two full-blown adult emotional meltdowns I’ve witnessed in the past two week. One was a meltdown into rage and anger, the other into fear, anxiety, and despair.

Today’s chapter marks a major shift in the book of Numbers and establishes a recurring theme through the rest of the book. To this point, the text has continually presented the Hebrew tribes as compliant and obedient to whatever God asked of them through Moses. Today’s chapter starts with the people complaining generally about their hardships, as if it’s overwhelming public sentiment in the camp. Then it’s rabble, or a smaller group of disgruntled people with a specific complaint about God not providing an expansive enough menu. The incessant whining sends Moses, like the parent of obstinate toddlers, into his own full “I can’t do this anymore” meltdown of complaints to the Almighty.

As I think back to being both a parent and a leader in business, community, and church, all I can say is, “Yep. Been there. Done that.”

I have also noticed along my life journey that we love to pick and choose certain verses to demand literal obedience, typically those that have to do with morality like not getting drunk on wine, or ritual like keeping the Sabbath holy. But then there are verses like “greet one another with a holy kiss” that we conveniently ignore.

One of the verses that I don’t think I’ve ever heard addressed in a sermon on Sunday is from Paul’s letter to the Philippians that we just trekked through on this chapter-a-day journey a few weeks ago. Paul writes:

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing…”
Philippians 2:14 (NIV)

In the quiet this morning, it occurs to me that it’s very easy for me to think of examples both current and past in which I’ve had to endure the whining, complaining, grumbling, and arguing of others. If there’s anyone I identify with in the chapter this morning, it’s Moses. That said, I recognize that it’s easy for me to point the finger at others and ignore the three fingers pointing back at me.

Have I grumbled about anything or anyone in recent days?
Yes.
Have I been discontent with current circumstances or lot in life?
Yes.
Have I said things or acted out of either my complaints or discontent in ways that weren’t productive or conducive to building others up?
Yep.

Mea culpa.


As I head into this, another work week, today’s chapter is a good reminder about attitude, gratitude, and contentment. The Hebrews shifted from contentment and obedience to grumbling and complaining, and my observation is that this is a really easy shift for me to mindlessly make in my own heart, head, emotions, words, and behavior. The shift back to contentment and obedience requires discipline, contentment, and trust.

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing…”

Lord, help me not ignore that one, and learn to trust You more.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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A family video capturing toddlers playing with Polly Pocket dolls and experiencing emotional moments.
Chapter-a-Day

Coffee and Contentment

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Coffee and Contentment (CaD Php 4) – Wayfarer

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV)

Wendy and I have acquired a plethora of coffee mugs along life’s road. There are at least large drawers full of them, plus a cupboard with more. That’s just the kitchen. There are more downstairs in the pub and of course there’s a bunch at the lake. We have mugs from different plays we were in. There’s a mug from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Pella Opera House. We have one coffee mug emblazoned with quotes of love from Shakespeare and another one with Shakespearean insults. I have diner mugs with various iterations of our company’s logo across the years. There’s a mug from a coffee shop in Kauai and others from various places we’ve visited. Far-side mugs, hobbit mugs, and flower mugs. Small mugs, medium mugs, and huge mugs. I believe Wendy and I could have the army of Guatemala over for coffee and still not be in want for mugs.

Come to think of it, I can’t think of one mug in our warehouse of coffee mugs that has a Bible verse on it. It’s possible that there’s one buried in there somewhere, but if there is I can’t picture it.

I’ve always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with popular Christian culture. All through my high school and college years I worked for a chain of stores that sold pretty much anything on which you could print a bible verse. There were frisbees that “rose on the wings of eagles” and flashlights with which to be “the light of the world.” There were pewter bread trays branded for “the bread of life” and water bottles for your personal “spring of living water.” Of course, there were coffee mugs to help believers praise God “from the rising of the sun.”

Hawking the Christian tchotchkes helped put me through college, and for that I’m grateful. Even then, however, there was a catch in my spirit with Jesus junk. Part of my personal hesitation has to do with the fact that Jesus Himself said He wanted His disciples’ love, kindness, and servant-hearted acts to mark them as His followers. Walking around in my “saved by grace” t-shirt feels a bit like a shortcut that cheapens the whole thing.

The other thing that bothers me is the fact that reducing the Message to a pithy painted trinket sometimes profanes it. I’m sure theres a power band or set of dumbbells you can buy that comes with “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” printed on them to inspire your holy workout.

When Paul wrote “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” he wasn’t talking about lifting heavy weights, running a marathon, or even doing spectacular miracles like raising the dead. He was specifically talking about being content whether he was living in wealth or poverty, whether he was healthy or sick, whether he had full pantry or didn’t know where his next meal was coming from. I know, contentment isn’t as inspiring as moving mountains, but to my mind it might be more difficult. After all, we live in a world that is fueled by discontent. What Paul was really getting at by saying “I can do all this through him” was about walking away from the end-cap full of exercise gloves with Philippians 4:13 stitched on them. I don’t need them. I can be content with plain black ones I have at home.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself contemplating contentment. I’m still shocked by the fact that I never hear it discussed in a serious way. I wonder if discontent and the desire for more is so embedded in our cultural DNA that we can’t even fathom the contentment that Jesus expected of His disciples when He sent them out in pairs to neighboring towns and told them to take nothing but the cloak on their backs. Somehow, I think that I need a lot more contentment and a lot less of everything else. It’s at least worth some serious conversation over a cup of coffee.

Feel free to stop by. I’ve got a coffee mug just waiting for you.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

My Core Weakness

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My Core Weakness (CaD Jer 45) – Wayfarer

“Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.’”
Jeremiah 45:5 (NIV)

One of the things I’ve experienced as an Enneagram coach is that it’s is common for people, upon reviewing their Enneagram Type, to say, “I don’t want that to be my Type!” In fact, there have been people I’ve encountered who insisted on mistyping themselves, whether consciously or unconsciously, because they were uncomfortable with embracing their true selves. This is, I have discovered, sometimes part of the self-discovery journey for people.

Every Enneagram Type has its core fear, core weakness, core desire, and core longing. These may manifest themselves differently in different individuals. As an Enneagram Four, my core desire is to be “special and unique” while my core weakness is the sin of envy. It’s easy for me to feel that others have something special or unique that I lack. Without realizing it, I sometimes feel an intense antagonism toward people I don’t even know that’s rooted in my envy. It’s taken a long time for me to recognize that in myself and address it.

Coming in at only five verses, Jeremiah 45 is one of the shorter chapters in the Great Story, though there are a handful that are even shorter. When the messages of Jeremiah were compiled into what we now know as the book of Jeremiah they were compiled thematically. The final chapters of the book are a kind of appendix. Today’s chapter is a fascinating, personal message that God gave Jeremiah for his friend and faithful scribe Baruch.

I saw shades of myself as I read Baruch’s lament in the quiet this morning. Baruch’s brother occupied an important position in the administration of King Zedekiah. Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe, writing down the prophets dictated messages and then rewriting them all over again when the king burned the original copies in his anger. Let’s face it, the doom-and-gloom of Jeremiah’s prophetic works are bit repetitive and depressing. Add to that the fact that all of the anger, hatred, and animosity of Jeremiah trickled down to Baruch. When Jeremiah was banned from speaking in public, it was Baruch who got the job of proclaiming the words no one wanted to hear. Baruch sometimes got blamed when an accuser was afraid to confront the prophet himself.

“Why am I stuck doing this my whole life?” I can hear Baruch muttering to himself. “Why didn’t I get a cushy, high-profile job in the King’s administration like my brother?”

Jeremiah hears the muttering of his friend and scribe. God tells Jerry to tell Barry: “Don’t seek great things for yourself. Believe me, your brother’s story is not going to end well, but I will protect you and your life as the scribe of my anointed prophet.”

We don’t know what happened to Baruch’s brother Seraiah, though it was likely either captivity or death. Baruch, on the other hand, was still alive with Jeremiah in Egypt after the fall of Jerusalem.

In the quiet this morning, I confess that it’s always been easy for me to feel a certain level of discontent with my life. I was called specifically to do what I’m doing, and I trust that with all my being. Nevertheless, whenever I go through a tough stretch of the journey, my core desires and core weakness make it hard for me to stay in my lane without some dramatic and pessimistic brooding, and Wendy can tell you that I excel in this.

But that’s where God’s words to Baruch really resonate with me in all my “Fourness.” I can focus on obediently and faithfully fulfilling that to which I’ve been called, or I can waste a lot of time pining away in envy for what others have been called to do. The reality is that I have been and continue to be extremely blessed, and when I focus on that blessing, and the Source of that blessing, then I find contentment is soon to follow.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Rockstar Realities

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Rockstar Realities (CaD 1 Kings 11) – Wayfarer

So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
1 Kings 11:6 (NIV)

A number of years ago, Nickleback made famous a song that I have always thought was the perfect embodiment of earthly desires, and it’s catchy enough to be an earworm (my apologies):

I’m through with standing in line
To clubs I’ll never get in
It’s like the bottom of the ninth
And I’m never gonna win
This life hasn’t turned out
Quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)
I want a brand new house
On an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough
For ten plus me
(So what you need?)
I’ll need a credit card that’s got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet
(Been there, done that)
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and
James Dean is fine for me
(So how you gonna do it?)
I’m gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I’d even cut my hair and change my name
‘Cause we all just wanna be big rock stars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We’ll all stay skinny ’cause we just won’t eat
And we’ll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger’s gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny in her bleach blond hair, and we’ll
Hey, hey, I want to be a rock star
Hey, hey, I want to be a rock star

With today’s chapter, the story of King Solomon’s rather amazing life comes to an end. His story started out so well and showed such promise. When given the choice, he asked God for wisdom rather than fortune and fame, so God said He would give Solomon both. As I get to the end of the story, I find that fortune and fame overpowered Solomon’s wisdom and led to foolishness.

What’s funny about this observation is the way I find Solomon continues to be revered by so many of my fellow believers. My perception of this is that most have never really read Solomon’s entire story. They only know the Cliff Notes bullet points that Sol asked for wisdom and God gave Sol everything he could possibly want. He was an ancient “Rockstar” who was both God’s man and got a life that compares to Nickleback’s lyrics.

Jesus talked a lot about the dichotomy between this temporal world and the eternal Kingdom of God. He also was quite direct about the reciprocal relationship between earthly fortune and eternal fortune. In fact, Jesus addressed the matter when a very Solomon-like individual approached Him:

One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.”

When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.

Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.”

“Then who has any chance at all?” the others asked.

“No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

Luke 18: 18-27 (MSG)

In the quiet this morning, I have to confess that I have my own “Rockstar” fantasies though they look a little different than the Nickleback version. I am also conscious of the fact that my impression of wealth is always in relationship to the small percentage of earthly Rockstars who have way more of it than me. By that standard, I never think I’m wealthy. Yet, I am wealthy in relation to the vast majority of people on this earth that have far less than me. The conclusion is that it doesn’t take Rockstar wealth to lead me to Solomon-like, spiritual foolishness. It takes just enough to fuel discontent, fear, pride, greed, lust, and/or envy within me. Once that’s done spiritual wisdom can easily give way and can be overcome by foolishness.

“Wherever your treasure is,” Jesus said, “is where your desire is and where you’ll end up.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Point

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The Point (CaD Ecc 6) – Wayfarer

A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Ecclesiastes 6:3 (NIV)

As I have been contemplating the words Ecclesiastes’ Sage this past week, the character of Ebenezer Scrooge has repeatedly come to mind. It happened again in the quiet this morning as I read today’s chapter.

Scrooge is such an embodiment of the person that the Sage describes when he writes of one who has everything and doesn’t enjoy it as he lives life “squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, his body is a musty cellar.” (see Matthew 6:22-23 in The Message). When he describes a man with many children who nevertheless dies alone, unremembered, with no one to give a proper burial, I can’t help but envision Scrooge asking the ghost of Christmas future to show him a single person who felt something, anything at the news of his death. The ghost takes him to the home of a couple who were his tenants. The emotion they felt was one of elation that their merciless landlord was dead as they now had time to get their finances in order.

It’s easy to sound too Hallmark sappy when it comes to expressing the en-joy-ment of life. Yet I find the Sage contrasting those who live in joy and contentment with those who live in misery and discontent no matter their lot in life. I can’t help but hear the echoes of Paul’s words in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Phillipi:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself contemplating not only Scrooge’s reputation, but also his transformation. Isn’t it ironic that when I hear the name “Ebenezer Scrooge” my first thought is about what he was, not what he became? I wonder how often I do that with people I’ve known along my life journey. But the transformation is the point of Dicken’s story. It’s the point of the Great Story:

“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things pass away. New things come.”
2 Cor 5:17

And the one who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I’m making all thing new.”
Rev 21:5

Here I am at the beginning of a new day. Where will my heart and eyes lead me this day?

Misery and discontent?

Joy and contentment?

The further I’ve get in my spiritual journey with Christ the former becomes more-and-more of an impossibility, and the latter comes naturally with each breath.

The point of the journey is transformation.

Speaking of enjoying life. Wendy and I are off to enjoy the start of summer at the lake, and I am taking a break from the chapter-a-day journey. I plan to be back on the path June 7. If you need a fix, please visit the index or the ol’ archives. Thousands of chapter-a-day posts to choose from. Cheers!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Finding Contentment

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Finding Contentment (CaD Ps 131) – Wayfarer

But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.
Psalm 131:2 (NIV)

Sometimes, I think our world lives in a perpetual state of discontent…

Businesses thrive on making me feel discontent that I don’t have this or that.

The magazine rack at the grocery store thrives on making me feel discontented with my body, my looks, my home, and the fact that my life isn’t a Chip and Joanna fairytale.

The news thrives on making me feel discontent with the state of current events and seems to want to keep me focused on fear about everything from the fact that more people are killed each year by vending machines than sharks to the probabilities that the President could push the nuclear button and end the world.

The social media feeds I occasionally follow for my favorite sports teams seem to be 90% discontented fans discontentedly ranting about every loss, every player who’s in a funk, every move the GM makes, and every season that doesn’t end with a championship.

No matter what side of the political aisle you reside there is discontent that the other side exists and that your side doesn’t rule the world.

Social media feeds that I mindlessly scroll through can so easily feed a spirit of discontent that my life doesn’t look like that person’s life.

I sometimes wonder if discontent is such a prevalent and pervasive part of everyday life that I am deaf, dumb, and blind to its omnipresence.

How easily I forget that the serpent’s playbook in the Garden of Eden was to stir discontent within Adam and Eve.

Today’s chapter, Psalm 131, is a short ditty written by King David. It’s just three verses long, but I found the spirit of the lyrics to be so refreshing on a Friday at the end of a busy week. “I have quieted and calmed myself,” he sings. He has centered down in his spirit. He has blocked out all the things he can’t control. He has sought out and found a place of contentment.

In the quiet this morning, I find my soul longing for that place, too. I find it interesting that David claimed responsibility for finding contentment. So often I led to believe that contentment will come when I acquire that thing, when I get to that place in life, or when I make that much money, et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera. Contentment seems always to reside on life’s horizon, but David’s lyrics remind me that it’s found within me, in a humble, quieted, and calmed spirit.

I think I’ll end this post and spend a little more time in the quiet this morning.

Have a good weekend, my friend.

Chapter-a-Day

Muttering

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But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered….
Luke 15:2 (NIV)

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve come to understand that if one attempts anything of real value there will be muttering.

I was struck this morning when the chapter began by saying that the teachers of the law and Pharisees “muttered.” Digging into the original Greek and the definitions given for the word Dr. Luke used here, it described “droning on in low, constant murmur” and “smoldering discontent.”

Having been in different positions of leadership my entire life, I have come to understand that there will always be muttering. In fact, as I sit in the quiet this morning and take a stroll down memory lane I can quickly bring to mind mutterers and their mutterings from every stretch of my journey.

A couple of thoughts on muttering:

Even Jesus Christ had mutterers muttering. I can always take solace in the fact that I’m in good company. I’ve come to accept that there will be mutterers. In fact, if there are no mutterers, then maybe something is wrong.

Muttering came from all sides. Muttering is typically not as simple as a black-and-white differentiation between those who mutter and those who don’t. The teachers of the law muttered. The crowds muttered. Jesus’ family muttered. Even Jesus’ disciples sometimes muttered. When you say things and attempt things that make people feel uncomfortable, there will be muttering, and Jesus was very clear that discomfort is a natural part of spiritual growth. Life comes through death. Salvation comes through loss. Growth comes from pruning. Receiving comes through giving. Let the muttering begin.

Jesus was never afraid to address the issue at the heart of the muttering. When there was muttering about healing on the Sabbath He questioned the reasoning of the mutterers and then healed on the Sabbath. In today’s chapter, when the muttering was about His keeping company with “sinners” He told three parables about God’s love for sinners and heaven’s celebration when a sinner repents. I’ve learned that responding to muttering head-on is often the best way to handle the smoldering discontent.

Jesus rarely showed anger or animosity towards mutterers and their muttering. Jesus was frequently the dinner guest of Pharisees and teachers of the law, and they were the ones who seemed to always lead the muttering. One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn is to separate the mutterers from their muttering. It’s so easy to distance myself from mutterers and demonize them, but that solves nothing. Confronting the issue at the heart of the muttering is important, but I try to treat the individuals muttering with kindness, gentleness, and self-control.

There will be muttering. I can’t prevent that. Like Jesus, however, I can choose how I respond.

Chapter-a-Day

Insatiable Discontent

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“You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
Haggai 1:6 (NIV)

This past Saturday night Wendy and I attended the annual awards ceremony for our local community theatre. At the venue, there was a display of the renovation plans for our local Community Center. Some of our faithful community theatre members have been instrumental in generating support for the renovation as it has been the theatre’s home since 1987, and it needs updating.

Along my journey, I’ve come to understand that no large-scale project is universally loved and appreciated. No matter what you propose, there’s going to be opposition. Momentum and support for interest, funding, and investment require advocates willing to campaign for the cause. Thus, the members and their impressive display at the awards ceremony.

Over the last several months, I have been blogging through the “exilic” books which recorded that stories and accounts of the Hebrew people taken into captivity when Babylon besieged and destroyed Jerusalem around 600 B.C. A large contingent was taken into exile in Babylon and Persia (modern day Iraq) for 70 years. Then, many of the exiles returned to Jerusalem to resettle in their homeland, rebuild their city, and reconstruct the Temple which was in ruins.

The prophet Haggai wrote and preached among the returned exiles. Like any other major civic building project, the rebuilding of the ruined temple was not universally supported. In today’s opening chapter, Haggai clearly states the theme of the message that God had given him to address, which was a pointed call to rebuild the temple.

What I found interesting was the problem that Haggai called out, which was delaying the project: insatiable discontent. The people incessantly believed that they never had enough, and they perpetually wanted more for themselves. Life was an all-you-can-eat buffet and their appetites always brought them back to the line for more. That left little interest, support, or investment in rebuilding God’s temple.

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded of Jesus’ consistent words and example in advocating that His followers reject insatiable discontent that is so prevalent in our world, and invest in things of eternal value:

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”

“Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: “Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light. When you enter a town or village, don’t insist on staying in a luxury inn. Get a modest place with some modest people, and be content there until you leave.”

“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

Jesus (excerpts taken from The Message)

The problem Haggai addressed with the returned exiles is a basic human problem. He couldn’t motivate people to invest in God’s house because they were never content with their own. Jesus addressed the same problem in His day. Human nature hasn’t changed in 2000 years. My basic human nature is continually given to insatiable discontent. There is always something in life’s all-you-can-eat buffet line beckoning to come back for more. I find myself needing a constant reminder of Jesus’ call to switch my appetites from the things of this world to His eternal Kingdom.

Chapter-a-Day

The Path to Contentment

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But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6 (NIV)

Our friend Tony Harris published a book this past year entitled FADS Marketing. Tony is an expert marketer and his book is a fascinating insider’s view of the world of big marketing. The book opened my eyes to the way I am being sold a bill of goods every day with regard to food, alcohol, drugs, and sex (F.A.D.S. Get it?). If I’m blind to it and if I’m not paying attention, then I will fall for it over and over and over again. What big marketing does is take the field of my basic human appetites and then sows discontent.

Contentment is a recurring theme in Paul’s later writing. I find it interesting that it seems to have become a more important topic the further he got in his own spiritual journey. He takes a rather balanced approach. “I know what it is to have plenty,” he writes, “and I know what it’s like to be in need.” In either circumstance, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves (because it can change rapidly in ways we don’t control), we should seek to be content.

That’s hard to do if I’m blind to the fact that every advertisement and marketing ploy (and they’re all over the place) is trying to stir my appetites’ discontent until I have what they tell me I want and need.

The further I get in my life journey the more I find myself pursuing contentment. I’m not perfect at it by a long shot. I confess that. Like most paths to growth and maturity, the road to contentment often finds me repeatedly taking one step forward before falling two steps back. Looking back, however, I can see the progress. More and more the things of real value to me are relationships, conversations, laughter, time, quiet, a shared meal, life together.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself once again honestly taking inventory of my wants and also taking inventory of my haves. Along the path to contentment, I’ve discovered that if I focus myself on gratitude for, and enjoyment of, the latter then the former takes up less room in my heart and mind.

And so, I contentedly enter another day of the journey.

Chapter-a-Day

Pomp and Circumstance

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I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV)

We are all suckers for a Pinterest-worthy phrase. The Bible is full of them. The stuff of inspirational bookmarks, posters, desktop backgrounds, and cheap commercial trinkets sold at your local Christian bookstore.

As I’ve journeyed through God’s Message for almost 40 years, I’ve observed that it’s quite common for that inspirational, scriptural quote to be taken completely out of context. Text that is actually profound, mysterious, and/or challenging with eternal, Level Four spiritual meaning is screen printed, replicated and dragged down to self-centric, ego-pleasing, Level One interpretations. I’m not pointing fingers, by the way. I’m as guilty as anyone.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I’m sure there are many young followers of Jesus who are receiving graduation gifts from well-meaning grandparents with that phrase printed on a greeting card, key-chain, or bookmark. On the surface, it seems to flow right along with all the pomp and circumstance of your boiler-plate commencement address:

“Chase after your dreams.”

“You can be anything you want to be.”

“Make your mark on this world.”

“The world is yours for the taking.”

“All your dreams can come true if you work hard enough.”

I noticed as I read the chapter this morning that preceding Paul’s inspirational statement is a rather sobering message:

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Paul, who was stoned and left for dead outside the city of Lystra. Paul, who was shipwrecked three times in the Mediterranean and once spent twenty-four hours floating on debris in the open ocean hoping to make it to shore. Paul, who was bitten by a viper. Paul, who five times was given 39 lashes (because 40 was considered lethal). Paul, who traveled some 10,000 miles largely by foot. Paul, who was beaten with rods three times, went hungry and found himself cold, naked, and alone. Paul, who was writing those words from prison.

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

The secret of being content in any circumstance is the “all things” Paul was referencing with his inspirational phrase. He wasn’t talking about grabbing the world by the tail, achieving his personal dreams, and moving up in the world. He was talking about being perfectly content being cold, naked, hungry, bloody, bruised and shackled in a first-century dungeon. Ironically, that is not the stuff of inspirational commencement addresses.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed that it is discontent that often fuels personal dreams, aspirations, ambition, economics, and the American dream. Paul’s faith taught him contentment in the midst of unimaginable suffering. I struggle to be content with my iPhone 8 when the iPhone X hits the market.

And there’s the disconnect.

This morning I find myself challenged to restore the meaning of the words “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” to its profound, mysterious, spiritual meaning in my own heart and life.  Being content no matter my current situation and circumstances. I confess that it’s easier said than done for me, and I’ve got a long way to go in learning the secret Paul discovered. Which is why this is a journey.

Time to press on. Have a good day, my friend.