I know a lot of the devotions we have shared durng this time have been about personal struggle, about navigating rough waters, about coping straegies. We’ve shared our hearts, words of comfort, grief at the loss we’ve felt, encouragement…

And, I think that is completely appropriate. We all need help to make it through this difficult time. But, this morning, I struggled to find one more story, one more angle, one more encouraging thought….

And I couldn’t.

Not because I’m in despair or denial… the thoughts just wouldn’t come to me.

Ugh. What am I going to say?

Then, I started considering something I’ve been thinking about lately. I’ve been thinking about being content….

Think about it. It seems like our lives are a series of waiting for the Next Big Event… there are First Words, First Steps, First Teeth. There is the First Day Of School. Then, it seems every little chance we get, there’s a “graduation ceremony” for something… preschool, grade school, middle school, high school, college, post-grad…

Then, in our personal lives, we look forward to the first kiss, the first significant other… getting engaged, getting married…

We get that first job, then it’s a series of ladder-climbing stunts always looking for something better, higher paying, more responsibilities…

You get the point.

I don’t know if it’s our tendency as Americans to always be fighting to advance, to win, to get better – I suspect our culture that worships struggle and being a self-made success does contribute to it. But, I think it’s really just a human thing – we always want to see if there is some way to make things better, and we delude ourselves into thinking that if we “just get ABC PDQ XYZ” we’ll be happy.

And, it rarely affords us much but fleeting satisfaction.

And, I do it. I’ve done it all my life… always thinking that once I pass the next hurdle, I’ll finally be happy… or once I get __, I can be content.

As you might suspect, it doesn’t work that way.

I caught myself doing it again the other day “…well, when we finally get through this, and life goes back to some sort of normal…” Now, that’s not all bad. We do need hope, we do need to recognize this season will eventually pass. An old pastor friend of mine used to say his favorite bible passage was “…and it came to pass”…

But, is there some way that we can find to be content even in this? Can we learn a bit to live in the moment (not always, I know it will still get to us at times)?

I’m reminded of what Paul said in Philippians 4: “…for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Oh.

“I have learned”

And so, I ask myself “Can I learn to be content wherever I find myself in life’s journey? Can I lean into where I am at, and hopefully find ways to embrace the moment?

Well, sometimes I can. And, I hope I’m better at it than I used to be. I’m comforted that it’s something I have to learn… and, I’m trying to find ways to be content, to find joy. I hope you can, too – and that you join me on a journey of learning to be content. When I can do it, it gives me much peace.