A Life in Line

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

This is a phrase with which I am very familiar. I have come to the realization over the last couple of years of my life that I am a chronic sufferer of the “Grass is Always Greener Syndrome.” I’m always on the lookout for the next bigger and better thing in my life. It doesn’t matter which area of my life, there is always something that looks better to me than my current situation. This is a dangerous position to find myself, because it will cause me to never be able to settle down and enjoy life. For example, since moving to Knoxville, I have caught myself thinking there is probably a different place I could be living that is better in any number of ways than where I live. I have a new job, about which there is nothing to complain, and I am thinking that there is a better job somewhere out there for me, even a better profession than engineering. Someone wiser than I once said that if you find yourself unhappy in circumstance after circumstance, you must realize that the common denominator is you. I must be the reason that I can’t find contentment.

Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “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.” Paul knew contentment. He was content in knowing that in whatever circumstance he found himself, his focus was on something bigger than those circumstances. This is what I desire – contentment in whatever circumstance I am in. The great Puritan theologian Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a book about contentment in 1651, so this is not a new struggle. The book is called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I think the title says much about contentment: 1. That it is rare. 2. That, once obtained, it is like a jewel. I happen to have a copy on my shelf that I have not yet read, so that book will be the next on my reading list. It will be a long and arduous read, but I’m sure will be well worth the effort.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 1:36 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.