Generally, we can be pretty fickle people. In the middle of a cold and snowy winter after a few years of mild weather, we are complaining about the weather and anxious for summer. Yet, in a few months, we will complain about the heat and yearn for cooler weather.

Why can’t we be grateful for what we have?

And not just when it comes to weather. We want the house we see in the magazine. We want the car from the commercial. We want the clothes, the latest gadget…the stuff.

Why can’t we be grateful for what we have?

I should grab a mirror and read this lesson to myself on a regular basis. I am guilty of discontent…far too often.

Yet, Paul says “…for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor.  I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.(Phil. 4:11b-13, CEB).

Twice, Paul says he learned contentment, it wasn’t natural to him, or to any of us. Discontentment originated in the garden when Adam and Eve were not content with all the trees but one. And, neither are we.

When Paul “learned” the secret – the sense is learning a mystery; Remember when you unlocked the secret to reading, or algebra Prior to this, it was a mystery to you. Then, all the instruction began to make sense and you could use that skill with success.

A similar thing happens when we finally “learn” to be content. Initially, we may not understand how our life could be complete without __________ (fill in the blank).

But, with a maturing Christian mindset, we begin to realize that true wisdom values contentment.

“Better is a little with the fear of the lord than great treasure and trouble with it.” (Prov. 15:16, ESV)

“The wealthy rule over the poor; a borrower is a slave to a lender.” (Prov. 22:6 CEV)

And the entire book of Ecclesiastes points out that achieving and gaining possessions is of no benefit.

Yet, I confess that I am still learning. At the beginning of this year, I began reading One Thousand Gifts and accepted the “Joy Dare“, by Ann Voskamp.

I cannot, like Paul, say that I have arrived yet. But, I am becoming more content with what I have. It is a process that must be learned.