Contentment is something I have wrestled with most of my life. I am starting to see that this is something God has been trying to teach me throughout the journey of my life. Bloom where you are planted is a quote that comes to mind and it is a very good one. We sometimes get caught up in our own ideals of what we think "should be" and we miss out on what is possible right in front of our eyes. We can look around and say to ourselves " I will never have what my neighbor has " or we can look at what God has given us and take it as a challenge and a opportunity to be the best stewards of what we have been given and make it into the best it can be. It's like when you are out of groceries and dinner is to be served in 2 hours. We can sit and give up and say "Well there is absolutely nothing to eat in this house" or we can take it as a challenge and see what recipe we can invent from the few things lingering in the pantry and fridge. I am sure you have been there before. I have made some of my best meals that way, by being creative and inventing, instead of giving up.
As a young Mom I remember being disappointed that I could not have the Grand nursery for my new baby that I had pictured in my head. We were low on funds especially sense I had quit my job to be a stay at home Mom when our daughter was born and I was discouraged. Finally one day I went through the house and gathered all I had as far as things to decorate with. I spread them all out, I wondered how I was going to use all this mismatched stuff to bang out a nursery. With some help of some spray paint and a few trips to Hobby Lobby to walk the aisles to get creative ideas I started creating my babies room. Bang ! In a few days I had a very nice nursery and a place that I felt was suitable for my new little princess. I had used mostly all things I already had, I had just reinvented them. I had made a nursery I could be proud of to invite people to see when they came by to see my new baby girl. I had prevailed and I had not given up and I had stood up to the challenge. I felt a feeling of success and CONTENTMENT, not bought, but created from the things God had already blessed me with. I did not plead for more and feel sorry for myself and give up. I opened my eyes and I saw opportunity. I had the privilege of living with and taking care of my grandfather in his last years here on earth and I saw this ingenuity all the time in the way he lived day to day life . I learned so much from watching a man from a lost and almost forgotten generation. A generation who made do with what they had and found contentment in it. There is a lot to be said and learned of the people who survived the Great Depression. I watched him over the years utilize and make masterpieces out of what seemed sometimes to be thin air.
I believe we can find contentment in our homes and in our lives by focusing on how we can best utilize what we have already been given and stay focused on that. We need to ignore the enemy when he whispers " It isn't enough".
Love, Kimberley
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