April 2019 - LPNI

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April 2019

LPNI Devotion – April 2019

Contentment

I have had some difficulty organizing my thoughts and finding words for this article. Those who know me well, know that is quite uncharacteristic. Perhaps it is the time of year (half way through Lent) or the time of life (over 60). It is a time of year and life when things are not better or worse; they just are. It seems like a lot of things in life just “are”, and are just in the middle.

From my college days I can remember being in a graduate Developmental Psychology class, and being told that at age 32, I was “middle-aged”. I was truly offended! If 32 was in the middle what does that make over 64?! Now I would gladly go back to being considered “middle-aged”. Perhaps the attitude I wish for myself and think would be good for me to share is the concept of “contentment”.

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1 Timothy 6:6-8

St. Paul wrote to Timothy about contentment at a time when the sum total of a person’s life possessions would fit in a small room. I am not moving again, because the lives of my family would fill a large truck, and I am not sure we are really content with just one truck full even though we have ample amounts of the requisites of “food and clothing” as listed in the verse above.

Whether we are not content with our age (too old or too young) or not content with what we have or wish we had, lack of contentment certainly saps the life out of one. It can draw us away from the godliness we are to feel. According to St. Paul, contentment gives us “great gain in godliness”.

What I have now is more than I need and certainly much more than I deserve. God, in Christ, has given me his kingdom! What more can I want? What is more important than that?

Those are a few words about my thoughts. May you, too, feel it and think about contentment that is given to all of us through Christ our Lord. May you ponder the true meaning of the fullness of Lent and the sheer joy of Easter!

Intentional Interim Pastor Rocky Mease

B.A. M.Div. M.A. Board Certified Chaplain

Derby, KS USA