The Excellence of Contentment

Why I pick up Rare Jewel of Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs at 6:45 in the morning, I'll never understand.  His thoughts are so far above mine that I have to take him in bits and pieces and read everything three times before I get it.  But, here I am and off we go!

"There is, indeed, a great deal of excellence in contentment; that is, as it were, another lesson for us to learn." (Italics mine.)  If there is one overall truth that I have taken to heart through this journey, it's that contentment must be learned.  It does not flow continually, nor does it always flow naturally.

I considered myself a generally contented person in my life BC, but looking back I see that my life, while certainly having its challenges, was fairly crisis free.  The larger challenges ebbed and flowed but there was enough space between them that contentment was present much of the time.  Then came the crash.

After the diagnosis came the surgery.  The pain and its accompanying side effects didn't leave any time for even the consideration of contentment.  It was a matter of getting through the days in one piece.  Only when things started to stabilize did the contentment issue arise, and I must confess that I didn't always do well in that department.  I wondered if I could ever again reach the level of contentment that I once enjoyed.  Step by step I was led into what God had to say about the subject and my hard heart was softened and instructed.

Contentment exists and is there for the taking not only in the good times.  In fact, I found it to be especially sweet when I looked for and found it in the bad times. Contentment was modeled for me time and time again in the chemo room during my infusion treatments.  It was modeled early on by my smiling temporary friend, Bea, who was in her 90s and shared the radiation waiting room with me during my radiation treatments.  It was modeled many times in the Bible where ordinary people endured far more than I will ever endure, yet learned to be content with their lot.

The choice is mine.  Do I choose contentment or do I allow myself to wallow in self-pity and discontentment?   Stated that way, it should be an easy choice, but there are still days when it isn't.

Fortunately there are many more days of contentment than discontentment, and today is one of them. For that I am grateful😊

On the health front:

All is as well as it could possibly be.