Even There…

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Jonah. God calls Jonah to a ministry and Jonah runs. He goes down to the nearest port and jumps on a ship heading to a city on the far side of the known world.

I don’t know about you, but there have definitely been times in my life when something like that has sounded very appealing. Sell everything I own. Go somewhere that is warm year-round. Find a job that is completely mindless. Leave behind the stress of life as I know it.

I was listening to a pastor speak the other day, and he began his message by saying, “You have everything you need to be completely content right here, right now. There is nothing else that you need to make your life complete, whole, joyful. Right now, God is providing you with everything you need.”

That’s kind of hard to get my mind around on one level. But on another level, it is tempting to think that my life would be so much better if…I’d just get that job promotion; if I’d just get into that college; if my boss were just a little more understanding; if I could just lose some weight; if he would just get well, if, if…

And what happens, you see, is that as we go through life there is always another if. And if we go through life always anxious about the next if, we end up with this sense of discontentment, discontentment with who we are, discontentment with what we have, discontentment with those around us and we lose the present moment, we lose the ability to appreciate and enjoy what is.

Today, I pray that you would notice that God has indeed given you everything you need, maybe not everything you want – but everything you need, right here and right now. And in this noticing, may you find peace.

Let us pray: Gracious God, we don’t have to look far to see your blessing surround us on every side. And we trust that you are ever with us. As we grow in our faith, and as we grow in our ability to serve you by serving the broken and hurting places of this world, we ask for courage, for strength, for contentment, and for a deep sense of your peace. Root us and ground us in your love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.