Contentment
April 20, 2003
Dear Friends,
We have all heard genie stories about a man finding the magic lamp and getting three wishes.
Here is my version:
An old man finds a lamp on a beach. While rubbing the lamp, a magic Genie pops out and grants him three wishes. The old man wishes for health, wealth and a beautiful wife. Immediately the wishes are granted. The man has the body of a twenty year old body builder. His fortune puts him in the class of the weathiest people in the world. He has a gorgeous, young wife.
For many months, the man is elated at his new found wealth. He enjoys his lovely bride and his new body. He buys things he never dreamed of owning and sees places he never dreamed of seeing. Everywhere he goes he is envied and admired. Men covet his life.
And now, as Paul Harvey says, you get “the rest of the story.” As times wears on, little by little he starts to question his wishes. Should he have asked for extremely high intelligence rather than wealth? He could then have used his intelligence to make a lot of money, but he would still have the high intelligence. Should he have asked for things that were not so self centered? If he had asked for a cure for cancer, he could have become wealthy and also made a tremendous contribution to mankind. He would not only be envied, but beloved. Should he have asked for a soulmate rather than the outward beauty of a wife?. He loved his beautiful wife, but sometimes she wasn’t very easy to talk with about what he was thinking and feeling. If he had thought about it a little more before answering, he would have asked for it differently. Thoughts such as this plagued the man for the rest of his life. He was very glad that he had met the genie and was thankful for what he had been given, but always, in the back of his mind, he thought he could have done better in making his wishes.
The point of the story is this: most of us are in some way, shape or form that old man. We have been given blessing upon blessing in our lives which we appreciate, but yet we are not content. We are always thinking that we could have done better. We are always looking for the next genie to come along so that we can make things right. We second guess where we are in life. Do we have the right job, friends, spouse, neighborhood, faith and so on? Open and honest self examination is healthy. Yet, if we cannot balance the need for self examination and self improvement with the idea of being content, perhaps we have something more to learn on the subject.
It may appear that to be content is the same thing as being complacent. Complacency is never a good thing. One can be both complacent and content, but one does not have to be complacent in order to be content. One can be content and still have a burning desire to improve. I would suggest that you can be diligent in self examination and self improvement while at the same time being content. We can learn Paul’s secret when he said “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Phil. 4:11)
We will focus on Paul’s comment over the next few weeks to see if we can’t learn the most published, but least understood “secret” to having a contented life.
Have a great week!
