I am thankful for being satisfied.
I think back on how hard I have worked for some “thing”.
I worked hard for the dining room table that still sits across the room from me. I bought is at Plum Fun Discount Furniture so many years ago I can’t recall…it is solid oak. The chairs are beginning to show a lot of wear, the tabletop needs resurfacing yet again, and one of the claw feet has some chew marks from a puppy the boys brought in long ago.
I worked hard for the sofa I am sitting on, (the same one I spent a few sleepless hours on last night….!!) It is very heavy, wonderful fabric, very well made. It it the best piece of living room furniture we have owned…much better than the three cheap sofas we have had.
I am thankful for the camper that sits outside under it’s own shelter. I worked hard to pay for it and the camper barn that it sits under. It is not as fancy a camper as the ones they make now, it doesn’t have as many slides as they make them with now, but does have one. It is much nicer than the camper my parents had when I was young, and certainly better than the tent we camped with when our boys were little. Definitely not a needed item…
I am thankful for king sized maple bedroom suit in our bedroom, I worked hard for it. It provides me with more sleeping space than I had when we slept on a full sized bed. Kerry Pinkham has some long legs…..
We never had a matched bedroom suit until I bought this one. When they began to unload it, he said he thought they’d brought the wrong one, this was a really fancy one.
No…it was right.
He asked how much I’d paid for it and I advised him that if he wanted to be able to sleep when he laid down on it, he probably shouldn’t know. It was an expensive purchase for us, especially at that time. But I worked hard, and I paid for it.
All of those things were expensive. They aren’t the finest things in the world, but they are much finer than what we once had, but certainly they are not necessary.
We could eat sitting on the floor. Many do. Dirt floors in fact.
We could sleep on the floor. Many do.
We don’t need a little house to pull around behind the vehicle I have. That little house is more shelter than a large number of people enjoy.
These are examples of things I have become satisfied with. Regrettably, there were many things I worked hard for that didn’t satisfy for long. Much of my work has been for things that I no longer even have….things that I became dissatisfied with, and discarded.
I am thankful to have come to the place in my life where I am satisfied more easily.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I often still have the desires for the new, the better, more of , the latest…(for those of you who know me well, you’ll know my weakness for a nice handbag.)
I heard it once said that happiness is not having what you want…it is wanting what you have. I have learned how true that is.
Solomon, who was the wisest of men, wrote this…“Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? (Ecc. 5:10-11)
The quest for having what will make you happy is a lie. You can’t earn it, create it, or buy it. There is only One Source of life and true happiness. Only He can give and provide what He alone created.
“ A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness…”(Eccc. 2:24-26)
“ Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this..”(Ps: 37:4-5)
