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 (Phil. 4).
Yesterday I was feeling frustrated with myself because my desires have not changed despite the season of need I have unexpectedly found myself in. Here I am without money to even buy groceries, living off the extreme generosity of my family who is feeding and housing me while at the same time making notes from a fancy house magazine on the mansion I want to live in and supporting my husband taking a test drive in a luxury car for fun. Call that delusional, right?? All at the same bemoaning my "lack of contentment" and anxious that I should ever attain such such a high calling as contentment in the place of want. How can I claim contentment when my desires are for more? Is contentment the lack of hunger?
Dictionary.com proposes that content means "mentally or emotionally satisfied with things as they are," or "assenting to or willing to accept circumstances."
Webster's 1828 dictionary:
CONTENT, a. [L., to be held; to hold.] Literally, held, contained within limits; hence, quiet; not disturbed; having a mind at peace; easy; satisfied, so as not to repine, object, or oppose
CONTENT, v.t.
1. To satisfy the mind; to make quiet, so as to stop complaint or opposition; to appease; to make easy in any situation
CONTENT, n.
1. Rest or quietness of the mind in the present condition; satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, restraining complaint, opposition, or further desire, and often implying a moderate degree of happiness.
Well, no conclusory thoughts for now. I shall retire for the night wondering if feeling want and hunger can coexist with contentment. I hope so.
