| Contentment & Depression - long |
| I'm good at something, real good and I'm proud of it. I'm content in my circumstances pretty much all the time.
I started reading a booklet ("Cultivating a Heart of Contentment," by Gary Inrig, Discovery House Publishers, and available at www.rbc.com) about contentment this morning (I read while I wait on the internet to get done loading, sending, receiving or whatever). It talks about money, of course, and some about other things but the principles apply across the board. American culture tells us we need more, more, more. If Susie has a new PurpleBerry internet ready, mini-pc, camera, text messaging, walkie-talkie function, GPS phone in the new "it" color of turquoise, then I must have one. If my job has great benefits, pays a salary that keeps me and my family well fed and clothed with a little money left over for extras, why do I push my boss for that raise? Contentment is a foreign concept to most American's but it is a freeing concept once you get it.
In Philipians 4:11-13 Paul, from a prison cell, wrote, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances...I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." The booklet says, "Contentment, then, is not about self-sufficiency but Christ-sufficiency. It is not resignation, but satisfaction." (p.13)
In Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 tells us "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income....As goods increase, so do those who consume them." And what for? I Tim. 6:7: "For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it." Whatever we gain on earth, however much we obtain of it, we don't keep it when we die. You can even request that it be buried with you, but you still won't have it - and you won't care.
Luke 12:15 warns us "Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; a person's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
The dangerous results of wanting more, more, more are told in I Timothy 6:10, "Some people eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." They LOST THEIR FAITH due to greed.
So what do we do instead? "But you, man of God, flee from all this. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness." I Tim 6:11.
Tips for developing contentment from the booklet:
1. Develop a lifestyle of limits, not luxury.
2. Cultivate generosity, not greed.
3. Emphasize personal worth rather than net worth.
4. Invest in the eternal, not just the temporal.
How do I seek contentment? Through gratitude for what I have or where I am. If I am in the hospital visitng a sick grandmother for hours at a time, I think about being grateful the hospital is there to take care of her. If I am in traffic and I miss the light, I remind myself that an angel may have just saved me from an accident that would have happened if I had gone through. When our cupboard is getting bare, and I have a hankering for something we don't have the ingredients for, I stop to be thankful for the never-ending jar of peanutbutter.
I have Major Depression. The symptoms (fatigue, cognitive difficulties, headaches, suicidal tendancies) are severe enough for me to be declared disabled. Fairly often a darkness comes on me; it presses on my body and my joints and muscles ache; I grow dis-content, but don't know what I want - except I want to get out from under this feeling NOW.
How can I say I am content most of the time when I have Major Depression? I am content with my home - I don't want a bigger one or one in another area. I am content with my clothes - I don't shun hand-me-downs - I'm not out looking for the latest fashions. Pretty much if it covers my body enough so I don't gross out other people, then I'm fine with it. I already described my contentment with our food situation. I'm content with my very old Bonneville with messed up wiring, 1 speaker that doesn't work, a seatbelt that I have to stretch over to the passenger side to buckle, torn up carpeting on the floor in the back, missing hubcaps, and a cracked windshield. I'm not going to use fuel efficiency as an excuse to buy a newer car that looks better. I don't need a bigger engine. And how it looks doesn't affect the way it drives. I'm content with my family - none of them are perfect by any means but God gave them to me and I cherish them as if they were perfect. I'm content with my pets, my computer, my internet, my mismatched furniture, the location that I live, the only neighbors that we have - I'm just content the majority of the time. It sure helps with the depression that I'm content and not wanting something different or additional.
For me contentment comes down to gratitude. It's knowing that God is the source of everything we have that we truly need, and it will always be provided. It's thankfulness that I have a comfy couch to sleep on to help my back. It's thankfulness that I learned to like a wider variety of foods so when the picken's are slim, there's something I can enjoy as well as eat. It's thankfulness my grampa died after a long and very difficult illness. It's thankfulness that despite the depression I experience here,
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| See also: depression, contentment, Bible |
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