Read Proverbs 15:15

Many folks eat their hearts out, suffering from the contagious "If Only" disease. Its germs infect every slice of life.

If only I had more money.

If only we owned a nicer home.

If only we could have children.

If only he would ask me out.

If only I had more friends.

The list is endless. Woven through the fabric of all those words is a sigh that comes from the daily grind of discontentment.

Taken far enough, it leads to the dead-end street of self-pity—one of the most distasteful and inexcusable of all attitudes.

Discontentment is one of those daily grinds that forces others to listen to our list of woes. But they don't for long! Discontented souls soon become lonely souls.

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.