Battle of the Cs
In October's church newsletter, our pastor used his part to write about contentment. He and I must be on more of a "same-same" thought line than I figured, because I've been pondering the similar things. If you are a part of Foundry, check it out. But let me riff on this a bit, as well, starting with a story.
William D. Hoard is a guy most have never heard of. Even if you are a die-hard Packer fan, he is probably unknown to you. William, born in 1836, was a civil war veteran from Wisconsin and later an energetic advocate for the dairy industry in his state. He was elected Wisconsin governor and carried the legacy of the "Father of Wisconsin Dairy Farms." A true cheese head.
But, he also was raised in a home that loved Jesus. His dad, in his spare time, worked among the Oneida nation as an itinerant Methodist minister. William thought he would follow in that path, but it didn't work out for him (along with several other ventures), so he eventually turned to journalism and then politics. I ran across one of his quotes recently, and it stands the test of time.
Happiness doesn't depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little and miserable with much.
The siren call of the next thing to acquire to make us happy tempts any of us. John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world in his day, is said to have answered a reporter's question of how much is enough money by saying, "Just a little bit more." Our economy is largely based on not being happy with what we have, and constantly looking for the next upgrade, whether phone or clothes or car or house. I'm not sure there is anything wrong with seeking the "better" of stuff we use, so long as it is not driven by a loss of contentment if we don't get it.
Consider this the battle of the "Cs" in our heart and actions. Coveting vs Contentment.
Coveting seems to boil down to a state of mind that declares you will not be satisfied unless or until the object of desire is in hand. Simply, coveting is idolatry, where a temporal thing takes on the role of an ultimate thing. “If I only had (name it), then I would be happy.” The scriptures are filled with warnings and challenges to run from this train of thought. From the 10th commandment all the way through the letters to young Christians, God says such cravings resemble trying to fill a bucket with holes in the bottom. There is no end to the desire and no satisfying the thirst that only Jesus can slake.
The place of coveting stands way across the field from faith. It works and connives to get, in hopes that what we pursue can fulfill needs only God can deliver. He promised to meet your deepest needs, deeper than any new shiny acquisition or achievement or experience can possibly deliver. Yet coveting continues to sidle up to the best of lives. Often fueled by jealousy, we want what we do not have in the mistaken belief that we can meet our own needs. Coveting destroys a person’s peace, robs the joys found in what is before you, and it takes many forms. We become masters of justifying behaviors and attitudes that don't look much like Jesus, at all.
If only I had a house like that…
Why can’t my husband/wife be like…
Man, that job would set me up for…
Contentment, in contrast, sounds like Cheese-head William in the quote above, and like Paul at the end of his letter to the folks in Philippi.
I don’t speak from a place of actual need, for I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be. I know how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, having both abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
So, here is Paul, who is living a pretty streamlined life, focusing on the road before him. But he still has needs to tend to, and he held tightly to the faith that God would match his needs with enough. Contentment, for Paul, was “learned.” Think about all the stuff you learned. Little, if any, came fully formed, rather you got better at whatever skill or thought pattern over time. Failure was part of the learning, and progress, not perfection was the goal. The “secret” he mentions was the hidden hand of God sustaining him regardless of the situation. So, he, and we, can say we can face anything life serves up “through him who strengthens me.”
Self-improvement and life-improvement are part of living. Drive and ambition toward better situations move us along, but don't have to define us. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, talks about how God knows your needs and will meet them in his ways. They are each a piece of the puzzle, but only a piece. When we mistakenly tie ultimate worth to one piece, we skew the whole picture out of focus.
A healthy exercise is to sift through the desires of your life and see if any of them are driven by coveting. Abandoning those unfulfilling pursuits and replacing the energy spent on those with learning to be content with who you are and what you have, sets you on a more healthy path of life. Trust me, this takes a lifetime of learning and the secret is often mysterious, but well worth the effort.
Let's remind one another to lean into God's sufficiency as we journey on our path. Mine is not yours, so it is foolish for me to compare, yearn for, and covet what I don't have and learn to be happy with what I do have. How about we trust just a bit more.
Thanks, William. Thanks, Paul. Thanks, good friends who keep me grounded.
Music time!
And one longer funny from Jerry (blame him if you know him!)
WOMEN'S REVENGE
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.
'No,' she replied, 'but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'
KEEP READING
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN
(A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN
MARRIAGE SEMINAR
While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication, Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor, 'It is essential that husbands and wives know each other's likes and dislikes.'
He addressed the man, 'Can you name your wife's favorite flower?'
Tom leaned over, touched his wife's arm gently and whispered, 'It's Pillsbury, isn't it?
KEEP ON READING.
WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'
'Yep,' the wife replied, 'in-laws.'
MORE
WORDS
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day...
30,000 to a man's 15,000.
The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men....
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'
KEEP ON GOING.
CREATION
A man said to his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.
'The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!
SCROLL DOWN SOME MORE...
WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, 'You should do it because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee.
The husband said, 'You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.'
Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.'
Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me..'
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says 'HEBREWS'
The Silent Treatment
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00AM.' He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM, and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The paper said, 'It is 5:00AM. Wake up.'
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN...
God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.