Tis the season to make a list and check it twice...a list of things I want. Consumerism is what makes the holiday season go round right? We have Black Friday super sales, Cyber Monday deals and holiday savings at every turn. It is not just the promise to save some money that is being pushed on us; it is the attitude of discontentment that is prominent in our day and age regardless of the season. Watch TV or spend any time on the internet and it won't take you long to be exposed to reason upon reason why your life is incomplete. You lack something, even if you don't know it now, and until you have it your life is incomplete. Things that could at best fall under the category of 'wants' are red-labeled as 'needs'. Do we ever stop to ask why?
What if instead of continuing to incur wants or superficially 'being thankful' when it is socially appropriate we were actually content?
I think the problem here is that contentment goes to a deeper level than most of us are willing to plumb. Today we hear words like 'happiness', 'peace of mind', 'the American dream' and 'having it all' but contentment? We cannot wholly blame the outside world for our rampant discontentment; it is as innate within us as any other trait of our personalities. Is it possible then to ever reach the place where we have enough to tip us over into the realm of contentment? It is not and will never be about having enough. Contentment begins and ends with the spiritual health of our lives. "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." (1 Timothy 6:8) This is something that cannot be bought or studied; rather it is something that is learned and made habitual. "The trade of sin needs not to be learned but the art of divine contentment is not achieved without holy industry" said the Puritan writer Thomas Watson in his book The Art of Divine Contentment.
What would life look like if we were content? What would our Christmases look like?
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