Be Happy – Learn Contentment

It’s quite a conundrum, being happy. You may think that you need people or stuff to make you happy and when you don’t have the things you want, you won’t be happy.

Well, guess what? We can’t all have everything. And even if we could, believe it or not, we wouldn’t be happy.

I’ve been studying the life of Solomon. One of his claims to fame is that he asked God for wisdom and so God gave it to him. But despite having as much wisdom and knowledge as one could ever get, he used it unwisely! He married outside of his faith, multiple times and then had to bend to the knee of his 700 wives. Imagine a Christian king today marrying a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Mormon, a Christian Scientist. They would be pressurising him to put up temples and mosques and all the other things that go along with other religions.

So Solomon had all the wisdom he needed, yet he made foolish decisions and as a result he strayed from God.

And that made him unhappy….VERY unhappy.

But he had pretty much cooked his goose by then. 700 wives 300 concubines to try and satisfy. It was not an easy task.

He wrote a book about his unhappiness.

If Solomon could not be happy with all his resources, how can I?

Last night I sat in my lounge in very low light. I looked around that thought to myself, ‘you don’t need a lot to be happy’. I understand that I don’t need bigger and better and newer to be happy.

Contentment comes as a result of appreciation.

I appreciate my couch…

And my bed…

And my Bible…

And my cat…

These things give me joy. They are gifts from God. They are simple pleasures. I appreciate them.

I think joy comes from appreciating little things in life.

Of course, I get a lot of joy from appreciating the BIG things in life…like my husband and my children and my friends.

You cannot buy a fulfilling life.

It has to come from within. It’s filling the God-shaped hole with God. It’ reaching out to Him on a daily basis and receiving from Him our daily bread – that which strengthens us for our journey here on earth. It’s saturating yourself with His Word and discovering that when you seek first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be added to you…joy, peace, ability to appreciate little things, contentment.

All of this is learned. Paul said it, “I’ve learned to be content”. It’s the only way to get contentment. Dig deep to learn to remain content regardless of your circumstances.

It must have been very tough for Solomon to be rich and famous and realise it wasn’t bringing him happiness and everything was meaningless.

Learn to appreciate all that you have and not what you don’t have. How’s this for an exercise in learning contentment…

From peterhornonline.com

Philippians 4:12-13

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

Keep the smile going!

God bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂