I've found four great reviews of Gifted. Thank you so much to those of you who have bought it, who are reading it or have read it and have left such nice reviews. You can take a look at them here and here. I'm so glad it is reaching people.So here's a question for you. Is contentment a good thing or a bad thing?
Most of my life I've thought of contentment as something desirable, something calm and zen-like people managed to achieve no matter their circumstances. I've wanted to be content and a few times in my life I have been.
But what about those times when we don't feel content? We feel restless and dissatisfied. We long for something we don't have. What about then?
This weekend I was told that if I'm not content, it's probably because I need to repent of something or I'm being selfish. If I quit thinking of myself and repent, I'll feel contentment.
I'd like to whole-heartedly agree... and respectfully disagree. I think there are times when that restless, longing, and even unhappy feeling of discontentment might very well be remedied with a good dose of service and some prayerful repentence. I also think there are times when discontentment presses down on us for other reasons. Maybe we're being gently (or roughly) nudged by something deep in us to strive for something more. Maybe we have dreams and goals that compel us forward. Perhaps we need to improve the condition of our homes, or our educations, our careers or our relationships.
If we ignore that persistent feeling of discontent, we might allow ourselves to become satisfied with things that should be better.
Maybe sometimes contentment is a beautiful, peaceful, pleasant place to be. But maybe sometimes contentment is a flim flam man, tricking us out of pursuing what will make us the happiest. And the most content.
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