Be content.

 

Our phones and computers give us immediate exposure to practically any commodity on earth as well as access to money to pay for these things - often with credit cards that we can't afford.

People today don't talk about stewardship, about living within their means or about being content with what they have.  This is compounded by social media which gives us the odd opportunity to view other people's lives and worlds through a filtered lens and compare them to our own.

The continual comparison of our lives to other's and the perpetual consumer mentality will keep us from being content in our everyday lives.  
   
Cars, clothes, jewelry, vacations, gadgets and homes can't make people happy.  Attitudes can.  That is why there are poor, sick and unfairly treated people who can still be content - their attitude, not their situation keeps them content.

I have two challenges for you:
1)  Reevaluate how you spend your free time - especially if you spend it online.  
If you catch yourself looking at items you want, set your phone down and go invest a few minutes in your home, yourself or your kids.  "The grass is green where you water it" rings true. So go water your lawn, literally. Stop pinning a beautiful yard on Pinterest and go cultivate one.

2)  Spend the next thirty days without a luxury - your morning Starbucks... something...pick anything, go without it and be content. That's it. Don't think about the money or the time you'll save, and definitely don't think about how it can be used elsewhere.  It's not about saving money or time, it's about being content.  Just go without it, and be content.  

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength. " Philippians 4:12-13

~D & H