The pursuit of contentment

There are two ways to get enough: one is to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. --G.K. Chesterton

The best compliment that I ever received was from a former boss. She told me that I was the most content person that she had ever met. The reason that it meant so much to me was because this is not something that comes naturally to me. I really work hard to be more content. One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:12 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.

Contentment is one of the few things in life that we choose. We don't choose the parents that we are born to or the body we are given. We don't choose the attitudes of the people in our lives or the way that others choices affect our lives. It is something that can't be taken away without your permission and it is not granted without your pursuit of it. It is found in the richest communties and the poorest households. There are very successful people who have it and those dying of disease that understand the secret of contentment.

It is not a transformation of the external you but a change of mind. This is taken out of context a bit, but Rick Atchley once said that " I don't need things to change around me, but rather within me." That is where contentment lives, within me.