Hey, so as a follow up to last week’s blog I thought I’d follow up with some ideas on how I practice contentment. Allow me to just reiterate a point I made in that blog, which is, that contentment is a discipline you have to slowly build up. It is not a feeling you conjure up but a state of mind that you actively have to work to cause and retain. The human mind is not on ‘good’ as the default setting. Like the bible says, every inclination of our heart is bad. That means that any good practice you try to pick up shall be met with resistance. It is in our nature to want more, to feel entitled and deserving of more and to pursue more. So we have to constantly strive to do good. Contentment is not about what you don’t have or what you’re pursuing, but about that appreciation and gratitude of what you do have and making the most of it. A heart that is not content is filled with greed, envy, pride and will always lack peace and joy and that shows. Anyway, let me just get to sharing the steps…
- See the Good. I used to take Psalm 27:13 as a promise of future things to come until I realised it is also about perspective. I now use it as a vow to myself and a prayer to God to help me “see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living.” You see I used to get upset at my friends and tired of our conversations because every meeting was just one bad report after another. It seemed as though our meetings were a competition of whose life sucked more. And phone calls would get really irritating because it was just a list of things going wrong. I’d leave conversations feeling tired until I realised that I was getting annoyed at them because I was very guilty of the same. This attitude of complaining and ‘woe is me’ had spilled into my prayer life and I couldn’t understand how God could be a good God when there was just so much bad going wrong. So I decided to search for evidence of this Good God and I found it. I found it everywhere. I realised I could feel bad about leaving work or I could be grateful that I had a supportive family that let me breathe and heal. I could complain about being in a long distance relationship or I could be grateful for technology that allowed us to stay connected. I’ve found that if I look, I do see God and the evidence of His goodness all over me and it keeps me content. Content because I am grateful for what I see and confident of sustenance.
- Praise. This one is pretty simple. I have learnt to celebrate the good things I see and not just in my life but in the lives of others. Allow me, for one second to just vent about this stupid superstitious habit that Kenyans have of not sharing good news. I am tired of seeing all those posts about not sharing your good news in public ati because not everyone is happy for you. Well, Jemimah, have you perhaps thought that your good news is the hope that someone needs to see? That maybe your miracle is what your neighbour needs to hear about in order for them to keep hoping? Urgh I am so upset at Christians and how we don’t want to share good news because ati you’re worried people might do what? Visit witch doctors and hex you? Which God is this that you serve that His works are threatened by these weak spirits? Which God is this you serve that does not bless you? You think that if you keep your head down and don’t share his goodness you look humble? I hate that we are quicker to complain than we are to praise. And yes I said we. One of the things that carried me through the last season was hearing good news from my friends, praying with them and genuinely celebrating with them even when my prayers seemed to go unanswered. Their blessing does not take away from mine so I praised and praised as I got news of visas and jobs and relationships and travel and small things like going out for coffee or them being given an extravagant gift. The surest way to cure your heart of envy which leads to discontent, is by praising and being happy for others. Seeing their answered prayers also gave me hope because how else will I know of God’s faithfulness if they didn’t share their journeys and news with me? Your good news could be the light that a person in a storm needs to see to guide them safely to Jesus, that rock that your lighthouse is built on. Let that light shine. God gets the glory when you share.
- Say No to Yourself. Here’s the thing, it can’t be that the only time you lack something is because of circumstances. I think saying no to ourselves prevents us from being so shocked when the world tells us no because we have already learned that we don’t have to have everything. A few months ago I decided to try saying No to myself and I think that was one of the hardest things ever because I had just learned to spoil myself. If I wanted something and I could afford it, I would get it. I’m not sure how to explain how saying no to yourself is so freeing. The control is back in your hands. So you are not being controlled by circumstance. And when you know you didn’t get something because you decided not to, and not because you couldn’t then you feel more content, even about those things you couldn’t get. Saying no means that you are more thoughtful in what you say yes to and why you say yes. So in the end, the things in your life have not been dictated by circumstance or lack, but have been deliberately chosen by you. I can’t even tell you how much of a difference that makes. Now I try to make sure I remember the last time I said no to myself. Not just because of finances or budget limits, but because I have decided to be content with what I have. To me this has meant small things like not buying many varieties of things but waiting to finish one before I buy another. I now buy things either to fulfil a need or to replace something, not just because I like it or have the cash. And I am blissfully content with what I have.
That’s all I have today, hope it helps someone shift their focus. I pray that you truly would see , be aware of and appreciate the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. this isn’t a promise for tomorrow but a reality of today if you would only ask God to open your eyes. I pray that you would let your light shine wherever you are, and that you would boldly live out your faith before men, and that God would get the glory for it. In the words of Jonathan Mcreynolds,
May your struggles keep you near the cross
And may your troubles show that you need God
And may your battles end the way they should
And may your bad days prove that God is good
And may your whole life prove that God is good
Boldly Unconformed 