My husband's 45th birthday is but a memory now. As I was cleaning up the leftover food and covering his chocolate cake, I realized something. Sometimes the road to contentment is long and windy, sometimes it's short and choppy. Often times, the earth beneath our feet can seem to tremble upon every step we take. Skies can appear as blue as the sea or as deep as the ocean yet the peace that leads to true contentment comes not from the heaven's above nor from the waters below but from the Holy Spirit within.
As I contemplate being content with the new journey my family is about to embark upon, God began speaking to me about simplenenes. I'm not even sure if that is a word out of the Webster's dictionary or God just made it up, but I am certain of one thing, I must simplify for my own sanity. Reminds me of an article I wrote one time entitled just that, "Simplify for Your Sanity". Apparently I need to go examine this mindboggling concept another time.
I close my eyes, sit back and take a deep breath just imagining what might this mean. More time with God in the mornings, de-cluttering my bedroom, being able to say 'yes' when my girlfriend calls me to grab a hot chocolate with her or quite possibly when one of my grown children sit on the couch across from me and actually look me eye to eye rather than at the top of my head or back of my book. As I let out my breath slowly, a smile creeps upon my face and I realize, this simpleness, is what I have been longing for.
I can't imagine waking and sitting up against my pillow, stretching my arms and leaning over to gab my Bible, opening it to a new book with great anticipation of what God may want to speak to my heart that morning. To walk to my closet without meandering through a path of boxes or books to choose my wardrobe for the day is an almost incomprehensible task. Packing a lunch and heading to the river with my kids for a picnic and skipping stones along the river's surface has been a long-awaited activity I have pondered so many times while in class. Contentment would definitely have its place in my heart amongst these most serene conditions.
Knowing the day I was born not a single item did I possess, it should be my goal to leave this world in the same fashion since everything belongs to God anyway. Whether we keep our home or lose it, whether a better job is replaced with the job Ken lost, whether this new journey my family is about to embark on leads to anything better than what we have now, is not the question, but the answer.
Our contentment with what things we have now will determine the state of our futures. Simplifying is an art, one in which I am determined to master. If we are commanded to preach the simple gospel than why let anything else in our lives become anything but simple? This is something we all must truly contemplate.
1 Timothy 6:6-7 (New King James Version)
"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain[a] we can carry nothing out."
