Content

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I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. -Philippians 4:11b NLT

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Sometimes contentment is misconstrued as resignation. A better word, for me anyways, is optimization - making and living the very best in whatever situation we find ourselves. Such was the case when the Apostle Paul wrote these words from a prison in Rome. He was, as it is sometimes said, an example of blooming where you are planted.

That said, I think that the concept is very challenging to people who do not understand what it means to be content. For some it resembles a weird form of victimization and a means of hopeless acceptance. And for the egocentric it resembles a strange form of self abasement. Yet for many contentment is a path full of hope and promise.

In you Lord, we live and breathe. And in you, we are learning to be content.

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... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on words in the bible.