The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today (12 page)

You cannot let your contentment be based on what you have or don’t have, on who likes you or who doesn’t like you. Learn to be content in every season. Content when God blesses you with a lot, and content when you have a little. Content when the dreams are coming to pass, and content while you’re waiting. Content in the shepherd’s fields, and content in the palace. The Scripture says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Life is very freeing when you can say, “I’m content with who God made me to be. I’m content with my personality, content with my looks, and content with my gifts. I’m content with where I am in life—my position, my career, my relationships, and my house.”

This is the reason many people are unhappy. They’re always wishing for something different. Some single people are not going to be content until they get married. But you need to enjoy being single
because when you get married… you’ll enjoy it more! (I’m smarter than I look.) There are married people who wish they weren’t married, or who wish they were married to somebody else. White people sit in tanning booths trying to get darker. Dark people put cream on their skin trying to get lighter. Ladies with curly hair go to the salon to get it straightened. People with straight hair go to the salon to get it permed. People with no hair go to the salon to buy some hair!

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with improving, being your best, and showing your style, but you shouldn’t always be wishing you were something different. Be content with who God made you to be. It’s a tragedy to go through life always dissatisfied, wishing you had more, wanting to look like somebody else, waiting to be happy. I’m asking you to be content right where you are.

Think about Mary, the mother of Christ. When she was pregnant with Jesus, she had to ride a donkey to Bethlehem. Now, I’ve lived with a pregnant woman twice. If I would have suggested that Victoria get on a donkey at nine months pregnant, I probably wouldn’t be writing this. Mary could have complained, “Joseph, why don’t you get me something smoother? This is hard.” When she got to Bethlehem, “Joseph, why didn’t you make us a hotel reservation? Why didn’t you get me a hospital room? You knew I was going to have this baby. It’s been all over the news.” When the baby was born, “Joseph, why didn’t you buy the baby a new outfit? I have to wrap my beautiful baby in swaddling clothes.” That means strips of cloth. Mary didn’t have designer jeans, a fancy purse, or a latte from Starbucks. But she never complained. She never found fault with Joseph.

Mary didn’t say, “God, if I’m going to have this baby for You, at least You could make it more comfortable on me.” She was content in the season she was in, content when the angel said, “You’ve been highly favored,” and content riding a donkey while pregnant,
content giving birth in a barn with a bunch of animals, and content when the wise men said, “Your son is the Messiah.” It takes a mature person to be content on the mountaintop and content in the valley.

A couple of years after Victoria and I were married, we found a piece of property that we really liked. It was close into the city and in a nice neighborhood, but it had a very old run-down house on it that had major foundation problems. Most people would have torn it down, but we decided to fix it up and live in it. The floors in the den were so slanted that I had to put little blocks of wood under the front legs of the couch so it would be level with the back legs. Most of the interior doors would not close properly. That didn’t bother us. We were happy.

My mother would come over to our house and say, “Joel, how do you live in this house with these crooked floors?” But I’ve learned that God gives you the grace for each season. Today, we have a nice house with level floors. But I don’t believe we would be where we are if we had not been content in that older home. It would have been easy to complain, “This is a piece of junk. God, we wanted something new. When is it ever going to change?” No; pass the test. Whether you’re abased or abounding, whether you’re in your dream house or a crooked-floor house, make the decision: “I’m going to be content. I’m going to enjoy my life. I’m going to be grateful for what God has given me. I’m going to be the best I can be right where I am.”

Paul, who said, “I’ve
learned
how to be content,” wrote much of the New Testament from a prison cell. When you’ve made up your
mind to be content, prisons can’t stop you, crooked floors can’t stop you, donkeys can’t stop you, lonely shepherds’ fields can’t stop you. God will get you to where you’re supposed to be.

A gentleman recently was telling me about all of his problems and about everything that was wrong in his life and went on and on. It was a long story. He ended by saying, “Joel, I just don’t like my life.” Here’s the problem. It’s the only life you have. You can’t trade it in. You can’t become someone else. You may have a thousand reasons to live unhappily, but you have to make the choice that you’re going to be content. If you’re sour and complain, “When is it ever going to change?” you’ll get stuck. God does not promote discontentment. Shake it off and focus on what’s right in your life. Focus on what you do have. When we woke up this morning, most of us could see the sunlight—our eyes worked. Most of us could hear the birds singing. We had a roof over our heads. We have opportunities and people to love in our lives. There’s a lot right in your life. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t get so focused on the crooked floors, the donkeys, and the struggles that you miss the gift of this day.

Every season is not springtime, with the beautiful blooming flowers, gorgeous sunshine, and cool weather. That’s a great season, but you’re not going to grow if you stay in harvest. There has to be planting seasons, watering seasons, and maintaining seasons, when you’re pulling the weeds and tilling the soil. Those are important seasons. Without going through that process, you’re not going to come into a new season of harvest. Instead of being frustrated by the difficulties,
have a new perspective. The season you’re in is getting you prepared for promotion. It may look as though you’re stuck. You don’t see anything happening, but God is at work, and at the right time the season will change. Winter always gives way to spring. It takes a mature person to be content not only in the harvest season but content in the planting season, content in the watering season, and content in the “pulling up the weeds” season.

You may be in one of those difficult seasons right now, raising a small child, taking care of an elderly loved one, or perhaps dealing with an illness. You feel like you’re riding that donkey. It’s easy to think,
As soon as I get through this tough time, I’ll get my joy back. As soon as my kids get out of diapers… As soon as I make it through the busy season at work… As soon as I lose twenty pounds…
No, this is the day the Lord has made. You have to choose to rejoice today.

God has given you the grace you need to not only endure this season—that doesn’t take any faith—but to also enjoy the season. When you’re content, you see each day as a gift. You appreciate the people in your life. You’re grateful for what God has given you. You’re not only getting stronger and developing your character, but you’re also passing the test. You will come out of fall and winter, and come into your springtime. Things will begin to bloom and blossom once again.

When I was growing up, there were five of us kids in the house. My parents were pastors. We didn’t have a lot of money, but as a little boy I always felt as though we were well off. We had fun. We played hide-and-seek in the house. We would go out in the front yard and have races. Life was good. My parents couldn’t afford to take us on a big family vacation every year, so every couple of months my father would load us kids up in the car and take us out to the airport to ride the tram from Terminal A to Terminal B! There were just two terminals back then, and the tram was
free
. We thought that was so
great. We would ride it over and over and over. People would look at us like we were confused. But we weren’t lost; we were having fun. My father learned to be content in each season. Instead of complaining that he didn’t have enough, he chose to bloom right where he was planted.

It’s funny. When some of my childhood friends would tell me they were going to Disneyland, I always thought that meant they were going to the airport to ride the trams. I’d say, “Yeah, we’ve been there before.” When I got old enough to realize what Disneyland really was, I needed counseling!

Don’t miss a great season in your life wishing you had more, complaining about what you don’t have. The real joy in life is in the simple things—making memories with your family, riding the trams together at the airport, playing hide-and-seek in the house, watching the sunset with your spouse, and staring up at the stars at night.

When our son, Jonathan, was five and Alexandra was two, we planned a big vacation to Disneyland. They were going to get to eat breakfast with Mickey Mouse and take pictures with the other characters. It was a big deal, getting the flights with two small children out to California, booking the hotel, and picking up the rental car. I spent half of my retirement to get there!

After we checked into the hotel, we went straight to the park. I was so excited for my children. But we weren’t there fifteen minutes when Jonathan said, “Dad, I want to go back to the hotel and go swimming.”

I didn’t think I heard him right. I asked, “You want to do what?”

“I want to go back and go swimming.”

“No, no, no, Jonathan,” I replied. “We’re at Disneyland. We came a long way. Look at all these rides. Isn’t this going to be fun?”

“No,” he spoke firmly. “Daddy, I want to go back and go swimming.”

“Jonathan,” I started to plead, “we can swim anytime at home at the neighborhood pool. We’re at Disneyland!”

Jonathan sat down on the pavement, crossed his arms, and in no uncertain terms declared, “I don’t want to be at Disneyland. I want to go swimming!”

“Jonathan,” I exclaimed, “I spent fifty bucks on your ticket! You’re going to have fun whether you like it or not!” I thought later,
I should have done what my dad did and taken them to the airport to ride the trams.
It could have saved me a lot of money!

You don’t have to have a big vacation to have fun. Learn to enjoy the simple things in life. A mistake we make too often is that we think that when we reach a certain goal, then we’ll be happy. “As soon as I finish college…” “As soon as I get the promotion…” “As soon as I move into the new house…” “As soon as I have this baby, I’ll enjoy my life.” Yes, you’ll be happy when you accomplish your goals, but there are challenges that come along with it. I’ve heard it said, “With every blessing comes a burden.” You’ll never come to a place where you’re problem free, having no conflicts and no bills to pay, and everybody is celebrating you. That’s not reality. If you don’t learn to be content where you are, you won’t be content when your dreams come to pass. When God blesses you with that new house, what comes with it is a bigger yard to mow, more rooms to clean, more to maintain. When you’re blessed with that promotion, what comes with it is more responsibility. When you have that beautiful baby, there’s nothing like it in all the world, but at three o’clock in the morning that baby wants to eat. They don’t do things on our
timetable. Don’t pray for a bigger blessing if you’re going to complain about a bigger burden.

We love our new church facility. It’s a dream come true. God did more than we could ask or think. But with this amazing blessing came an amazing utility bill. The first time I saw it, I thought,
God, I sure liked our old facility
. The good news is that God wouldn’t give you the blessing if you couldn’t handle the burden. You have the grace you need for each season. Now, do your part and choose to be content. You could be in one of the best seasons of your life right now, but you’re not enjoying it because you’re focused on the burden, on what you don’t have, on how difficult it is. Because you’re waiting for things to change, you’re missing the beauty of this moment, the joy of today. Don’t go through life always wanting something else. See the gift in what you have right now. Can I tell you, we are living in the good old days. Twenty years from now you’ll look back and say, “Wow! That was one of the best times of my life.” Don’t miss it living discontentedly.

Mitch Albom is a great writer. He wrote a book called
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
. You may have seen the movie. Although it’s not what the Scripture teaches about the afterlife, it makes a great point. It’s about a man in his sixties who had worked at an amusement park his whole life. His parents owned it, and that’s all he knew. He never really wanted to be there. He had dreams to do something bigger with his life, but unfortunate things kept happening. He found himself back at the amusement park—discontented, unfulfilled, never feeling it was where he was supposed to be,
dreading going to work each day. On the outside he was kind and generous to people. He would go out of his way to help others, but inside he was unhappy and felt like a failure in life.

At one point there was a little girl on a ride who was in danger, about to be harmed. He rushed over to help her and saved the little girl’s life, but in the process he was killed. He went to Heaven and was told that he would meet five people. These people would be instrumental in helping him to choose what kind of Heaven he would have. If he wanted to live on a beach, in a palace, or in the mountains, it was his choice.

One person he met was a man he had helped during the war. The man told him how much he meant to him. He then met three other people to whom he had been good. They expressed their heartfelt love and appreciation for what he had done. The last one he met was the little girl whose life he had saved. He began to realize that during all of his time on Earth he had felt as though he was at the wrong place and in the wrong job, but actually he was at the right place. God had been directing his steps. He had made a difference with his life. When he stepped back and saw it from a new perspective, he chose his Heaven to be the amusement park, the place that he had dreaded all those years.

Could it be that you’re at the right place for the season that you’re in, but you’re not enjoying it? Maybe like him, if you would step back and see it from a new perspective, you would realize that God has you in the palm of His hand. He is directing your steps. He knows where you are, what you like, and what you don’t like. Instead of living discontentedly, frustrated, always wishing you were somewhere else, embrace the place where you are. See the good. Be grateful for what you have. Remember, there is a blessing and a burden for every season. Don’t focus on the burden. You have the grace to enjoy the blessing.