Contentment

Last week my ladies' Bible study group here in Ukarumpa began a new study. We're doing a study that I had never heard of before, but as soon as I heard the title of the book, I knew it was one I definitely needed to do.

This first week has definitely been challenging. The author refers to a diary in which the writer listed her prescription for having a habit of contentment. The list is as follows:

Never allow yourself to complain about anything -- not even the weather!
Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
Never compare your lot with another's.
Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
Never dwell on tomorrow -- remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

Wow. Reading that list was eye opening! I know I am not the most content person in the world. I worry about stuff. I complain about stuff. But I still have always considered myself a fairly content person. But wow! When I read this list... how many of those do I do on a regular basis? I whine about the cold, rainy weather. When I'm in the village or Ukarumpa, I think about what I'm missing back in the U.S. When I'm in the U.S. I'm missing stuff in PNG. I'm really bad about comparing myself to others.

The author points out that "true contentment is separate from our circumstances. Contentment is a state of the heart, not a state of affairs." I need to be seeking God, and his will, and not focusing on the slow, lonely days in the village, or the mud, or not being with family. I need to learn to have an attitude of contentment. Like Paul, I pray that I will learn "to be content whatever the circumstances."

I'm excited about where this study is going to take me!

(quotes from Linda Dillow's 'Calm My Anxious Heart', p. 13)