Contentment

 

‘Hey bro’

‘Hey’

‘How you been man?’

‘Good. You?’

‘I’m good too. Have you read this book ‘trusting God day by day’?’

‘No’

‘It’s by Joyce Meyer. You should check it out.’

That’s my conversation with my friend. Sometimes we are cordial, others brutal and some like this one, direct. There are things and situations in life where the best way to communicate something is by using someone else’s words. And my friend Bee felt that Joyce Meyer would be the best person to talk to me at this particular moment.

It had skipped my mind until later the following day when I remembered there was a book I was to check out. He had said I read the first chapter so I assumed that’s the far he had read. First we need to acknowledge just how much of an impact Joyce Meyer has been in our generation and those to come. We must be proud to have existed in the same era as her.

Going through the first chapter of her book and all that was ringing in my head was this one verse from the bible “but godliness with contentment is much gain.”  

Nobody in this world has it all. No one has a blue print of this thing called life and honestly, we are all just winging it. Some have the odds in their favour while others… well others seem to have been dealt a bad hand. And so is the way of life. We all striving for better. But in our pursuit, the good doctor writes, we ought to be appreciative of our present. We ought to admit, accept and let it sink in us that this is our life. Whatever thing it may be. For some it’s a terminal illness, or others a bad marriage, or bad job or bad school (ps bad here is in quotes) But irrespective of what we have, it remains to be our reality.

It is not about what you get but how you react to it that matters. You cannot choose what’s thrown at you (life has and will never be fair) but you can choose how to look at it. That yeah I didn’t get that degree but this is my life now. I will use whatever I have to be a better me. Yes, I did not get married as I wanted or my marriage didn’t end in a happily ever after as I had anticipated but this is my life now. I will try make the best of it. And sometimes this need not even be a long term plan. Sometimes just a simple daily routine. I will wake up go out there and keep applying for a job/ scholarship, I will wake up and try be a better parent/ spouse today, I will wake up and be alive today, I will wake up and just attend my classes today. Sometimes it’s just a decision to do today and just today. I’ll think about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

The attitude of gratitude. Accepting what comes, picking up the pieces and soldiering on. I’m not saying giving up or being resigned or succumbing. Far from it. I am saying doing the best with what you have. And you will see how slowly joy will start flowing from you. An inner peace that only poets try to describe.  

To quote Joyce “contentment does not mean that we never want to see change or improvement, but it does mean we can be happy where we are and will do the best we can with what we have.”

So, have you read the book trusting God day by day? No? Then I think you should.