What I think everybody needs a little more of...

Not that I am en expert or anything. You may not even care what I think or value my opinion. However, you can read this and think about it for your own life and come to your own conclusions. What I think everybody in this world needs a little bit more of is contentment. I think especially in our American society we are bombarded with messages from media, billboards, music lyrics, television programs...virtually everywhere we look or anything we hear is somehow telling us we need more. We deserve more. We're entitled to more. We would be happier with more. The {more} could be anything...furniture, time in the gym, vacations, sex, food, namebrand clothes, designer fragrance, even thicker toilet paper. (Which I find just plugs the toilet faster when the kids use too much- but that's just my experience.)
I think a lot of people don't even realize that they are letting these messages control their choices in life. They just have this "thing" inside- a desire- that is unfulfilled. It drives them to work longer hours, SPEND TOO MANY DOLLARS, eat more, put stuff on credit cards more, be angry more, fill their time more {ie. tv watching, net surfing}, think about breaking up relationships because somewhere someone else can meet their unfulfilled needs more.
Does this ring a bell? I fall into some of the categories myself. I admit it. I'm no superhero- immune to messages out there- wife and mother, has-it-all-together. I'm very much like you.
However, I have looked inward and upward a lot the past few years. I have asked the tough questions and wondered, "Is this all there is in life?" over and over. The resounding answer I get is straight from my heart. The answer is that there is more. Just not in this life. One of my favorite quotes is about this very issue. "True contentment on earth means asking less of this life because more is coming in the next."
I love that! It is something that comes from my faith- but can be lived out every single day. I am learning that there are things I just don't need, that {more stuff} won't bring me happiness or ease the pain I sometimes feel in life. There is no fast diet, get rich scheme, perfect pair of jeans (although they can make me really happy for a moment!!), tall latte, latest model car, that special fragrance...whatever it might be. None of that is the answer to what my soul longs for. It is something I cannot see, I cannot buy, I cannot earn.
It is something that only God can give. He gives it freely and without question. It is something I don't deserve and no amount of good works will ever be enough. It is His grace. His love. His hope for me. His promise of Heaven. It is all of that. THAT is what I continue to seek- and in so doing I find contentment. True contentment. It's such an amazing- yet difficult- concept for me to grasp. That the more I seek God, the less I want or need {more} stuff out of life. It's beautiful when it happens. When I find that I am more patient. Or that I am grateful in the midst of a tough circumstance in my life. Or that I can love someone for being who they are...even if they are rude, angry, or unlovely. I hope that the contentment I feel in life continues to grow and overwhelm me. I know I may never become Mother Teresa. I have a lot of growing to do. But I know that it is something I can seek to develop in my life every day. And that thought brings me contentment in and of itself. There is more to this life. But it's not about things...it's about contentment.