Life often feels like one long season of waiting.
We’re waiting to graduate, waiting to hear back from the job for which we applied, waiting for a spouse, waiting for a baby, waiting to buy a home, waiting to reach financial stability, waiting for grandchildren, waiting for healing, waiting for answered prayers. The list is endless.
If we’re not careful, we’ll spend so much of our lives waiting for the next chapter that we forget to faithfully live in the one in which God has already placed us.
There’s nothing wrong with desiring good things. It’s beautiful to long for marriage, children, a good job, financial provision, healing, and answered prayers. Often, our desires are God-given. The problem isn’t always the desires themselves but, rather, it is the impact their fulfillment, or lack thereof, has on our present contentment.
Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:6:
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
Likewise, James 4:13-15 warns us against placing too much confidence in our own plans:
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'”
How much of our time is spent longing for what’s next? How often do we allow our thoughts to become consumed by what we don’t yet have, what we wish we had done differently, or what could have been?
I know I am guilty of this.
One of the greatest weapons I’ve discovered to combat discontentment is practicing intentional gratitude. It’s seemingly simple, but so powerful for reorienting our perspective and heart toward Christ. The next time you find yourself dwelling on what you wish was different, stop and write down twenty things you’re thankful for now. Thanking the Lord for the countless blessings He has already given us is a great way to relish in God’s present gifts rather than focusing on what is “missing” in our lives.
Here are ten that come to mind for me:
- Living in a nation with incredible freedoms and opportunities
- My parents who desired to raise their children in the ways of the Lord
- My siblings
- A roof over my head and a warm bed to sleep in each night
- My friends and community within YWA
- My church
- The opportunity to work alongside an incredible family in my community
- A hot cup of coffee in the morning
- The ability to write
- The Lord’s endless mercy and forgiveness in my life
This life is only a vapor. Every day is a gift that has been entrusted to us. May we steward our time well, seeking first God’s Kingdom and honoring Him in everything we do.
As you seek contentment in a culture that demands you need more, ponder these two questions:
Is my mind set on eternal things or worldly things?
Does my daily life reflect someone living for this world or for eternity?
“Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.” — Charles Spurgeon
*Hannah Faulkner is a Young Women for America (YWA) Chapter President in Tennessee.
