Be Content

Yesterday we were in the front yard and as our daughters ran around the grass and picked up rose petals from one of two plants in the yard, my husband and I looked at the lack of landscaping and talked about what needed to change! They were happy. We were discontent. They counted the petals they had gathered and held them like precious treasure. They wanted to bring them inside and put them in a glass of water so they wouldn’t die (little did they know!). They didn’t notice all the empty dirt in the yard, they noticed the one piece of beauty – a red rose bush. I wish my eyes were more like those of a child – drawn to the beauty in every situation instead of complaining about what is missing or out of place. In my parenting class today I heard, “discontented parents breed discontented children.” “More is caught than taught.” So true. I immediately thought of yesterday and wondered how long it would be before the girls go into the front yard and start complaining, “when are we going to get some plants in the front yard? It’s so ugly out here…” How long before their contentedness turns to discontent because of what they see and hear from us?
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5