Joyful Generosity
“Thoughts disentangle themselves...over the lips and through the fingertips.” I learned that saying over 30 years ago, and just about every time I put it to the test, it works!
“Thoughts disentangle themselves...over the lips and through the fingertips.” I learned that saying over 30 years ago, and just about every time I put it to the test, it works!
A good way to think about contentment is Christ-sufficiency, not self-sufficiency.
It is correct to say God wants me happy. But He doesn’t want us to value it above other things or base our happiness in superficial temporary circumstances. God built us to desire happiness but He wants us to find it in relation to Him.
The Nazis stripped Victor Frankl’s life down to almost nothing. Once a renowned psychiatrist, Frankl was reduced to being a slave labourer at the notorious death camp Auschwitz. He could have seethed with hate and self-pity but, instead, Frankl realized that the Nazis could never steal, shape, or dictate his attitude.
We’re prone to treat the Bible like a textbook and we’re cramming for a test. We know how to read, analyze, colour code, timeline, and graph the Scriptures, (all good!) but meditation is a neglected skill.
As we share with God every worry that weighs us down, our circumstances may not change but we will. We begin to let Him carry the heavy loads that we can’t bear. We start to trust Him to handle the problems that we can’t control.
This lesson will help us open up the lines of continual communication with our Lord, giving us joy, hope, and stability in our anxiety-producing world.
Contentment comes through choices we make. The Apostle Paul said he had learned how to be content (Philippians 4:11–13). Following Paul’s teaching and example can help us learn how to be content.
There isn’t a day that passes in which I fail to see, hear, or read something that makes me smile. And because laughter is such an effective therapy, I’m grateful that God dispenses this divine medication so frequently.
It’s not about the change in the weather, how young or old you are, or any other circumstance. None of these things matter. Life is to be celebrated, not merely endured.