Contentment

Be content with what you have but not with what you are.

To be content, just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now, and then got it back again!

Russell Conwell tells of an ancient Persian named Al Hafed, who owned a very large farm and was a contented and wealthy man. One evening a Buddhist priest who was visiting Al Hafed told him of the splendor of diamonds, which are to be found in some parts of the earth, and of the riches, which would come to the man who owned but a handful of these diamonds. At once Al Hafed became discontented, for in the face of such visions of wealth he felt very poor indeed. He must own some diamonds! So he sold his farm and set out to find diamonds. His search carried him fruitlessly to the ends of the earth, until finally, discouraged, penniless and in rags he threw himself into the sea and was drowned.

In the meantime Al Hafed’s successor took possession of his farm. One day when he led his camel out into the garden to drink from the clear brook, he noticed a curious flash in the sands of the shallow stream. He reached in and pulled out a stone containing a beautiful diamond. When he stirred the sands of the garden with his fingers he uncovered other and more beautiful diamonds. Al Hafed was plodding his weary way over the lands of the earth, when on the farm he had sold and left behind were literally acres of diamonds!

Are we satisfied to labour in the field where providence has placed us? Or are we, like Al Hafed, looking to other fields?

"You are, at this moment, standing right in the middle of your own acres of diamonds." (Earl Nightingale)

Contentment is what makes poor men rich. Discontentment is what makes rich men poor.

There are two ways of being rich. One is to have all you want, and the other is to be satisfied with what you have.

Content lodges more often in cottages than in palaces.

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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 everything through Him who gives me strength.” (Written from a dungeon by Paul to the Philippians; 4:11-13.)

In order to help you 'count your blessings,' ask yourself, "What would I take in exchange for what I have?"

“Time sure changes things,” an airline passenger told his companion. “When I was a boy, I used to sit in a flat-bottomed rowboat in the lake down there below us and fish. Every time a plane flew over I’d look up and wish I were in it. Now I look down and wish I were fishing.”

“Nothing is enough for the man for whom enough is too little.” (Epicurus)

Parents, tell your kids to do what thy love to do, and do so well that someone will pay them to do it… to choose satisfaction over salary. “It is better to have little with fear of the Lord than to have great treasure with turmoil.” (Proverbs 15:16 NLT) Better to live with a happy person with a thin wallet, than a miserable person with a thick one. Pursue the virtue of contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1Timothy 6:6)

In life, you get what you focus on! That's why Paul writes, '...Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things'

(Philippians 4:8 NAS).

Two of the qualities that make the difference between leaders and men of average performance are curiosity and discontent. These deep human urges work together, I believe, to motivate all human discovery and achievement.

Civilization has rarely been advanced by contented men and women.

Be dissatisfied enough to improve, but satisfied enough to be happy.