Learning Contentment

We live in a culture that constantly tells us, "You will not be happy until you have more." Yet, the Apostle Paul had a much different outlook. While under house arrest and chained to a Roman soldier twenty-four hours a day, he wrote he was content. This was something Paul had to learn. Just as learning to walk, tying your shoes, or memorizing the multiplication tables took practice, so does learning to be content—being satisfied with what you have.
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One way to learn contentment is to practice thankfulness. During World War II, Betsie and Corrie ten Boom were sent to a German concentration camp for hiding Jews in their home. The barracks were so miserable that Corrie cried, "Betsie, how can we live in such a place?" How could anyone learn contentment in such a place? Betsie's answer was to give thanks for everything in the barracks. But when she thanked God for the fleas, Corrie said, "There is no way I am thanking God for the fleas." But Betsie said,  "Fleas are part of this place where God has placed us."
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Later, Betsie and Corrie discovered the guards refused to come into the barracks because of the fleas. The prisoners were left alone, and the sisters could share verses from a smuggled Bible with the other women. When Corrie realized God could use even fleas for good, she said, "Even the fleas!" She learned to be content in that circumstance because she saw God was working it for good.

When you are tempted to be discontented, take a moment to consider what God has given you and where He has placed you. Begin naming some of your many blessings. This simple practice of thankfulness will teach contentment—something that when added to the Christian life ("godliness") becomes "great gain" (1 Timothy 6:6). 

—Sister  Sheri Strelecky

The Christian is very rich who
​is content with what he has.