I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I also know how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things, I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance, and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. -PHIL 4:12-13
Friends, God is good, all the time.
We, human beings, are creatures of happiness and gratification, that is contentment. We continually seek contentment, feeling wanting, and threatened when these elude us. But, what does it really mean to be contented in life? Is there any secret to contentment, which we may pursue quickly to become anchored in it?
St Paul experienced both sorrow and joy, both distress and comfort. He knew how to manage himself through both and achieve the contentment he desired for himself. He learned the secret to living through both circumstances because the Lord was his greatest joy.
Paul centered his life on the beatitude of spiritual poverty. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 5:3). Poverty commonly carries all types of discomforts and sacrifices with it. But it also induces us to lean on God and be assured that all things find their ultimate joyful end in God.
St. Paul is expressive in his conviction about how all his help and support always came from the Lord, giving him the "strength for everything through him who empowers" us (cf Phi 4: ). The secret of his contentment was both the Lord and the strength he delivered to him to be calm, accept, and live through life, looking forward to each day with deep appreciation. How then may we also benefit from this secret?
1.Stop complaining. Complaining does little to alter circumstances. We tend to complain about people and the things we think infringe on our contentment, even the weather, forgetting that there is truly little we can do about nature, if any at all.
2.Pray more. Prayer works. God can alter circumstances or improve them for us, and where they are not going to change, he gives strength to endure them joyfully.
3.Accept circumstances.We will not always choose the events that come our way. But we can accept them in good fate, make the best of them, and still derive contentment from them. It is not God's will that we suffer discomfort, but he takes delights in how we live through them.
4.Follow the example of Jesus and others. I like this quote from Fr. Richard Rohr: Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. To allow what God for some reason allows—and uses the imperfect everything, including me! And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally. Often, this has little to do with believing the "right" things about God—beyond the fact that God is love itself.
Prayer Blessing: Father, when your all-powerful word was announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary, she believed and expressed convincingly that the promise conveyed to her be done in accordance with your word. Consider the circumstances each of us and establish fresh promises for us by the same all-powerful word. Amen.