Skip to main content

Contentment

It is Thanksgiving Eve for our neighbours to the south.  As a result a wealth of wonderful thanksgiving material is appearing on blog-sites today.  I was really struck by this article by Darrin Patrick.  What is sabotaging your contentment today?

The 6 Assassins of A Man's Contentment
You have enemies as you try to live as a content man. Most of the time we think the enemies are from without—people around us and circumstances upon us. But the true enemies of contentment are within in us, which is where contentment is either fed or starved.
At the heart of contentment is an embrace of the present and a willingness to enjoy the good things we have right now. These enemies distract us from the present and prompt us to either idolize or demonize our past and future. We either worship or hate the past or future, but doing so makes it impossible to embrace the glory of the contented life.
The following 6 assassins are at work within you to destroy your enjoyment of the life God has given you...
1. Regret
Sometimes we should regret things. If we make bad decisions, if we hurt other people, we need to acknowledge our mistakes and feel their weight. But some men allow their regrets to turn into a cancer of self-loathing that undermines their ability to make balanced and healthy stories out of their lives.
2. Nostalgia
In the words of Don Draper, nostalgia is “delicate, but potent. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.” It recalls to mind the successes and joys of the past, while suffocating our ability to enjoy the present. Our lives can never escape the unrealistic burden of having to measure where we are now according to a standard set a year or decade ago.
3. Fear
Some people are so consumed by their fear of what will come tomorrow that they are paralyzed today. They worry that if they enjoy something too much, they will be devastated if it goes away. As a result, they are always hedging their bets, always pulling back at the last second from the edge of truly enjoying life. Their fear becomes a self-fulfilling cycle of discontentment.
READ the rest of the article HERE.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Something a Little Deeper for Christmas

Why the Jewish Messiah is the Most Important Individual in History by   Eric Davis What Christmas commemorates is big for many reasons. With the incarnation comes the Savior. For those who repent, there is justification, adoption, redemption, reconciliation, regeneration, sanctification, and, one day, glorification. But if we back up a bit, with the incarnation, there is the arrival of the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. It’s difficult for a 21 st   century audience to appreciate the century-long yearning which the Hebrews had for the Messiah’s arrival. But why? What is the significance of the Jewish Messiah? Read the Article HERE .
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lord's Prayer

"This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, "Our Father." There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." This childlike spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father "in heaven" and ascends to devout adoration, "Hallowed by thy name." The child lisping, "Abba, Father," grows into the cherub crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." ----Charles Spurgeon
Post a Comment
Read more

My Sheep

I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. (Eze 34:14-15 ESV)   This has been our western view from our cottage this week in Scotland.  The peak is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the U.K.
Post a Comment
Read more