There once were four sisters who lived in the land of Discontent. They were intelligent, they were energetic, they were gifted, but they were not content. As they shared a meager meal one night (a meal that did not cause any of them to leave the table feeling full), they talked about the way that each of them felt that they could find contentment. They disagreed profoundly, so they agreed to go seek contentment in their own unique way, to write to each other about their ongoing search for it, and to share what they discovered about it.
The first sister thought that contentment would be found in experiencing her world; she loaded her backpack and set out to see the world. And bit by bit, she did that very thing. She saw the countless wonders of the world, she experienced cuisine from different cultures, and she sat at the feet of the wise in many cultures. Although she learned much, there was always a new sight to see, a new delicacy to taste, and different voice to hear. She found many things, but she woke up hungry in a different place every morning. She did not find contentment.
The second sister thought that contentment would come from making her world productive. Surely if someone could use the resources of this world wisely, one could have all that one wanted, have the time to relax that one wanted, and this plenty would benevolently spill over into the lives of others as well. She went far and worked hard: she mined, she molded, she harvested, she sold. With her tireless labor she changed the face of the planet, becoming wealthy beyond the imagination of most humans. Others followed her, served her, and modeled their lives after her. Yet when she looked in her beveled glass mirror, she did not find contentment in her face, or in the faces of any of those who followed her.
The third sister thought that contentment would come from understanding her world. She spent years in study around the world, accumulating degrees at the finest universities. She wrote volumes about civilization and history. She understood the subtle intricacies of science and philosophy. She could recognize the obscure references and connotations inherent in the most difficult pieces of literature and visual art. Yet all of her knowledge did not provide the definitive answer to the question of how to find contentment. She could describe twenty different theoretical approaches to find contentment, yet she was intellectually honest enough to admit that she had not actually fully lived out any of them.
The fourth sister never left the land of Discontent. The fourth sister stayed at home, went to college in her hometown, married a local boy, and stayed to teach at her alma mater. She did not see the world first hand, but she studied it well enough to instruct her students in its beauty, its fragility, its diversity, and its unity. She did not reshape the world with her industry, but she did teach her students how to use the world’s resources so that they would remain renewable, and yet could still possibly provide for the needs of every human. At the same time, she showed her children how to measure their lives without counting their stuff. She did not pursue many degrees, but she did create in her students a thirst for knowledge that did, over time, change the boundaries of practical human knowledge.
The fourth sister never left the land of Discontent, but she did leave discontent. She did not change the world into a place of contentment, but she did model for her students how one might want to change the world and still find contentment for oneself. How could she ever be content with the status quo of the world, as long as there was hunger, pain, injustice, or want? She did learn, though, to discipline her desires so that she could learn to be content with what she had. She worked on who she was so that she could be more and more content with who she was. She honed her purpose in life, so that she could be more and more content with that purpose. She was the least famous of the four, but the only one to come close to contentment.
Hear these words of wisdom about contentment:
There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.
There is no greater guilt than discontentment.
And there is no greater disaster than greed.
Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), The Way of Lao-tzu
It is not for man to rest in absolute contentment. He is born to hopes and aspirations as the sparks fly upward, unless he has brutified his nature and quenched the spirit of immortality which is his portion.
Robert Southey (1774 - 1843)
To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problems of contentment.
George Woodberry
For the Christian, the words of Paul speak to us most wisely:
I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13 - NRSV
Let us learn how to live in the tension between discontent with our world, and contentment with what we have. It will help us to have an attitude of gratitude toward our God.
Grace, and peace in your hearts,
Ron
