As I sat down on Sunday afternoon to write this week’s blog, my mind seemed empty. “Lord, I have nothing. Please give me an idea.”  As I sat for a few minutes staring at a blank screen, my mind began to wander trying to think of something.

A few minutes later a sweet voice came from over my shoulder. It was my grandson Tucker who is visiting for a few days. Tucker is thirteen and lives in North Carolina. Each summer we bring him to Alabama for a week, so we can spend time with him and let him get to know the extended Benton clan.

As I heard the voice over my shoulder, I saw a broad-smiled Tucker. He asked what I was doing, and I explained that I write a weekly blog as part of the ministry to which I am called. He wanted to know more about what a blog is. I explained that I needed to come up with a fresh idea each week, and that sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it is not!

After explaining to Tucker that I like to use real life stories that can have a spiritual application, he said, “I have an idea.”  At this point, I could use an idea from anywhere. Tucker said, “It took me a long time to get to your house. It was a long trip, but it was worth it, because once I am here, I get to spend time with people I love. So, the time in the car was worth it.”

Well, Hallelujah, Tucker Bryan Benton! The journey seems long, but the reward is so worth it. Tucker was content on the journey.

Tucker accepted the journey he was on and knew that the journey would take him to fresh joys, deepening relationships, and new adventures. Unless Tucker stayed on the journey, he would have missed the blessings that came his way. Tucker learned to be content on the journey.

The apostle Paul understood that life is a trip, and the destination is heaven. On the journey, Paul encountered times on top of the mountain, and times shackled in the dungeon. Yet, Paul offered this advice, “Learn to be content.”

“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

Philippians teaches us that God wants us to embrace where we are in life right now. Live the life we have right now. Learn to be content. And here is the crucial part, these things can only be accomplished by walking with Jesus who gives us the strength to do this wherever we find ourselves in life’s journey.

Sometimes I have had barely enough money to make ends meet. Sometimes, I have been blessed with a surplus. Sometimes, I have so much joy up on the hilltop. “I am queen of the hill.” I have been in the deepest of valleys, especially the valley of grief. My husband has been the pastor of small congregations where we did almost everything. My husband has also been the pastor of larger churches where we were blessed with staff members who could help with the ministry. I have lived in a literal shack with no bathroom. I have also lived in a home with three bathrooms. Life has all kinds of changes, some unexpected.

Being content does not mean we cannot desire that things be different. We can be content being single and still desire to be married. We can be content in our jobs and still desire different ones. We can be content in whatever season we are and still desire something to be different, something to turn around.

Paul said that he learned to be content. Contentment is not necessarily a natural thing. A contented spirit is not bound by circumstances. Because contentment works from the inside out it is insulated from the ever-changing circumstances outside of us.

So many of us, including me, have spent enough time living in a world of discontentment. According to the Apostle Paul, we can learn to be content amid circumstances that are not those we would have chosen. Our part is to make a choice to be content, God’s part to enable us to walk it out by His power. I want to live a life of contentment. How about you? Join me in a commitment to learn to walk in contentment even in a world where so many live in discontentment.