Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Contentment Part 1

Our Attitude towards different situations we face everyday of our lives is really what makes us stand out.  Let take a look at contentment and how our attitude towards it can change how we see ourselves, and how we deal with the problems of life.
 
***Fine as frog hair split four ways: A man once laid in ICU after a serious heart surgery. He couldn’t move his arms, he couldn’t turn his head because of the wires and tubes, yet he explains to a visitor that he is feeling “as fine as frog hair, split four ways”.  Lesson-A difficult situation can be improved with a good attitude.
 

Proverbs 26: 13-16
13 A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. 15 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. 16 A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly
 
I understand the sluggard here has made an excuse by saying there is a lion in the road. The sluggard only sees the problems of life and it gives him an excuse for being lazy. Maybe he imagined there was a lion in the road. Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us. We see things that are not there.
It doesn’t matter if life’s problems or actual or imagined does it? We all have problems. However, those who get up in the morning and decide to face any problem with the best attitude possible are the ones who will have a better day than those who only see the glass as half full.
***A few days after the heart patient got out of ICU someone asked him how his recovery was going. He answered “Better than I deserve, but not as well as I hope to be” What can we learn from the attitude behind this response? “Better than I deserve,” is a clear admittance that if he got only what he deserved it wouldn’t be much. It is through the grace of God that he has been blessed with what he has. Yet he also honestly acknowledges his hope for something a little better than his current state “not as well as I hope to be.”
 
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will
be opened to you.
 
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
 
Difficulties teach us to be happy and they can make us a better person.
James 1:2-4
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature complete not lacking anything. 
James 4:1-3
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 
Contentment- Its all in your mind! ??? Its all in your mind is only true when we are talking about the heart, our attitude. So what about our attitude towards our life, what we have, how we look, where we live….. Am I content? Are you content? How can I
know if I am discontent? What can I do to improve my attitude towards what I have, or who I am?