Content: Complex Concept

“If you are not content where you are, there’s no reason to believe you will be content when you get to where you would rather be.”

Anonymous

A friend of mine recently sent that quote to a group chat I’m in. I’ve thought about it a lot, but seeing it in my notifications this morning brought back a torrent of thoughts.

Content is such a complex concept (like the alliteration I had there? *grinz*). It’s something we all strive to obtain but find it impossible to reach on our own. There is always something holding us back from being completely content.

How many times have you heard kids say “all I want is-“ go ahead. Fill in the blank.

You hear adults say it too. “If only I had that promotion. That raise. A better house.”

But I’m still a teen, so I can’t talk on adults.

If I had a dime for everyone who’s ever told me “I can’t wait to be away from my parents to either college or just anywhere”, I wouldn’t be as broke as I am now. All us naive children think that if we can just break away from our parents supposedly controlling power, everything would be fine.

Why? We want independence. It’s apparently hard to fathom that there’s still going to be people above us- Employers, law, government. And safe to say that their lightest consequences will be much heavier than any of our childhood punishments.

It could be something else though.

Maybe we think all we need is to be in control of our own lives to be happy. Well. News flash- Control is a fantasy.

Believe me you, we do not want complete control. We’ve seen what happens in history when people get complete control. Just flip back to any kind of war.

But back to the whole “you won’t be content when you get to where you want to be” thing. I’ve met a lot of adults and college kids who miss their parents.

I’ve met a lot of people in big houses with fancy cars who still want “more”.

If you can’t learn to be grateful in your current circumstance, you won’t be content in your dream.

I don’t know what that looks like for you, but for me it meant I needed to stop taking things for granted. Every little thing is a blessing.

If I start the day off with a thought of “today is a good day because God made it”, and I start off on a completely blank slate, then every little blessing I see just adds to the little tower of contentedness.

As a Christian, I ought to be completely content in Christ. But I’ll be the first to tell you I’m still human. Just because I love Him doesn’t mean I don’t want a new laptop or a full scholarship to college.

But because I love Him with all my heart and seek to make Him my only pursuit, I’m hopefully getting closer and closer to the end goal of complete contentedness in Christ.

Because He’s not going anywhere. He’ll never leave me- Which means no matter what circumstance I’m thrown in, I can be content.

I’m still growing.