A topic of discussion at church a few weeks ago was contentment. This is something I have thought about on the surface level, but never really deep-dove into. There is so much pressure nowadays to always be portraying a life of pure happiness, perfection, and joy all the time. This is simply not reality. So what is “being content”?

Personal definition: To me, contentment is not having everything be perfect, or be joyously happy. Contentment is a calmness and peace of the soul with your current situation. It is not being entirely pleased about everything and not settling for where you currently are. It is a learned gratitude for today and what you have, and an acceptance of it. It is still having inner peace during the low points of life. It is knowing that come what may, you have an inner peace which you will always fall back on. One can be content and not complacent, content and with a little bit of contempt for your current situation.

Coming at this from a Biblical perspective, I wonder how this ties into God’s wishes for us and the contentment of Jesus. The Bible talks about contentment quite a bit, with spiritual contentment being satisfied or pleased. Does this contentment come from trusting God? And if we trust God, does anxiety mean that we do not truly trust? I don’t know. Something to think about.