Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ~HEBREWS 13:5

Be content. The statement can be seen as a command or a verbalized form of permission. Be happy. Be wise. Be joyful. Be content.

One of the biggest mountains that I face is the mountain whose shadow attempts to cast its darkness upon my garden of contentment.

Lack of contentment, for me and I am certain many if not all of you, comes from the need to “do more.” I seem to be in a constant state of growth as I divorce myself from this out ‘need’, but there are a few straggly roots that are still present in my heart.

The need to do more makes me measure and count and compare, as if my life is on some scale. And we all know that comparison kills. This attitude and mid-set, like that mountain, stands in opposition to my faith.

…It is a hard thing to change one’s mind. But, praise the Lord, it is something that can be done through His grace.

When it comes to the visions and callings the Lord has blessed me to pursue, I always want to do more, more now, more tomorrow, and more in seemingly little time.

I recognize that there are many times I’ve allowed myself to be robbed of the joy of just creating and abiding in Christ’s timing for my outward success, because of the thought that I wasn’t doing enough. I was not writing enough. I wasn’t pursuing enough.

But I am deciding to divorce myself from all of the scales and balances. And I invite you to do the same. I am choosing contentment. I am choosing to celebrate getting one thing done successfully in a day even if I planned for ten.

I am choosing to be content with the ebb and flow of my creativity. The story Christ has for each of our lives has events and triumphs that may take longer than our “perfect” and most of the time, totally unrealistic timetables.

That is okay. I am content. We will get to, and accomplish what we are meant to when we are meant to.

~Dream. Imagine. Believe. Do. CONQUER!

 

–Candice Coates is an author, blogger, and contributor to Ambo TV. This article originally appeared on her website www.icameforthesoup.com.