Contentment, Or How to Stop Complaining

My last post was all about complaining. The good news: we can open up our hearts and be real with God. Yes, we can complain. The bad news: if we get stuck in complaining mode, we end up with gray, miserable lives full of bitterness. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

So, I’ve moved to another country (Taiwan). I’ve hit culture shock. I’ve spent some time complaining to God. What’s next on the agenda?

Contentment.

My last post was all about complaining. The good news: we can open up our hearts and be real with God. Yes, we can complain. The bad news: if we get stuck in complaining mode, we end up with gray, miserable lives full of bitterness. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

So, I’ve moved to another country (Taiwan). I’ve hit culture shock. I’ve spent some time complaining to God. What’s next on the agenda?

Contentment.

I always find contentment to be a slippery little sucker. Always passing right through my fingers, and barely ever even leaving a drop. Paul, on the other hand, seemed to have it down. Just look at Philippians 4:10-13. He’d mastered contentment in all circumstances.

How? Well, let’s also not miss what comes before Paul’s declaration of contentment. In Philippians 4:4-7, he talks about rejoicing, not being anxious, being thankful, and finding peace. Easy peasy, right? Well, not so much, but it’s worth working at.

So, here’s my new game plan to add contentment to my life, applied to a recent journey to find paint for the walls of my home:

1. Rejoice: After about 10 minutes of biking up and down every possible direction from the intersection, I’ve found the hole in the wall paint store. PARTY!
2. Stop being anxious: I’m pretty sure the owner speaks no English and my Chinese is minuscule. I want this trip to be successful since we just spent all this time finding it, but oh well, deep breath and try to say something.
3. Be thankful: Well, we established how much a gallon of paint was. Not anything about colors or the like. At least I can now comparison shop. That’s something to be thankful about. My husband and I are also still speaking to each other after a near-fight earlier while finding the place. Final thankfulness, this place is next to a yummy steamed bread shop that I’d been wanting to go to. Bonus!
4. Find peace: This is where I should breathe in a deep sigh, and smile because I’m alive, in Taiwan, and on vacation from school for a week. But, I’ll admit that I didn’t do this. I was still stewing over the near-fight, cranky that we hadn’t established more than the price of a gallon of paint, and randomly anxious that someone was going to try to steal our locked bikes. Back to step one for me.

So, I’m hoping this gets easier. I’m hoping the steps to contentment become a habit. I’m hoping God redeems me into a nicer, more peaceful person. But, I suppose he already is. You know how they say that stress shows who you really are, well, I’m not always pleased by that person who comes out. I guess that’s the point. God’s revealing my shortcomings, so hopefully, we can then work with God to make them better. Contentment here I come.