Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

“Our ultimate happiness is not found in external circumstances but in a trust that we are made for eternity.” God is present with us now but one day we will be brought into His direct presence. In the meantime we may go through suffering which may allow us to identify with His suffering and the pain that exists all around us. When we experience these times we learn the sufficiency of His grace and come to know Him as our ultimate source of peace. This life is only our beginning and what a future we have to look forward to. We can choose to live joyfully which takes some courage. Henry Nouwen said that the reward of choosing joy is joy itself. If we choose to claim joy hidden in the midst of suffering, life becomes a celebration.  “Joy never denies the sadness, but transforms it into fertile soil for more joy.”  We don’t’ deny the darkness, but we can choose not to live in it. Even a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness.

Let us choose joy and a willingness and desire to pursue contentment in spite of our circumstance.

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

 “Life is not about my happiness but about the joy of recognizing that we all emerge from one source-and that source is God who loves us.” 

Contentment is rooted in remembering.  But often we have twisted memories when it comes to wrongs others have done to us or wrongs we have done to others.  We need to remember our mistakes, to note our sins, and to repent or we live in shallowness and discontent.   “Contentment born of humility recognizes that we belong to God and to each other, allowing us to confront our sins, to learn from our mistakes and to remember who we are.”  God is faithful and gives our hearts the opportunity to turn back to His loving embrace.  Let us remember what He has done so that we know we are forgiven and that we belong to Him and not ourselves.  Let us remember  God who remembers us!

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

Memory holds our experiences together so that we re not disconnected souls living without connection to our past or our future. As Christians we remember Christ’s death and resurrection and look forward to what is ahead. We remember that we are not alone and that God was always present with us and will never forsake us. He calls us by name to remember who we are. We can recognize that we are both great and small.  Sometimes we focus so much on our imperfections that we don’t embrace them as part of the process in which we are brought to God. As we know our littleness and emptiness it gives God space in which to work. Even though it is a gift of grace to know we are little we must keep pushing on to claim our greatness. We are pure capacity for God and can be more!  Some of us think too highly of ourselves, others think too little, but most of us think too much about ourselves.  But let us remember Whose we are and walk contentedly.

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

Some profound moments of contentment come as we recognize that we are part of and belong to something bigger than ourselves.  On the other hand we find ourselves living in discontent when we live in isolation, as though we belong to no one or nothing. When we are more concerned about our own personal agenda and rights it diminishes our sense of community and  duty to look out for the well being of others. We can get overly focused on ourselves and become unhappy and lonely people.  Of course, to belong to something bigger than ourselves, we must give up some measure of control over our circumstances.  It often means we must decide not to choose something that we think may harm others or creation.  As we stop thinking of our community and the earth as existing for our personal convenience and well-being, we begin to see how we are part of a greater whole. As we live in harmony with others and with our world we come to peace and a sense of belonging. We can bless and serve others by volunteering at a soup kitchen or a youth ministry, Food shelf etc. And as we show care for others and creation, our own souls grow and stretch. “In serving we receive blessings because we are made for relationship, for community, and to do good.” Let us find contentment as we love Him and serve and bless others.

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book The Contented Soul

Do we live as though the earth belongs to us or as though we belong to the earth?  Another way to say it, do we view the earth as primarily a resource to harness and use or as a gift put under our stewardship to protect, conserve and preserve? The earth is a sacred space for it is God’s creation.  “Contentment is a byproduct of living rightly, properly understanding our obligatory relationship to creation.”  Our technological advances and consumption of resources need to take into account the impact and implications of our choices. In the U.S. it takes 24 acres of land and water to support what one person uses. There are only 4.5 productive acres per person in the world, and we need to learn how use less in sustaining our lives.  When we truly appreciate the gift of creation and its blessings, we will want to walk gently and leave a small footprint, to use resources carefully. There are so many wonderful things about creation that give us pleasure and cause us to praise and honor God.  Let us leave a legacy that shows we have walked respectfully of the earth, mindful of those who came before us and those who will come after us.

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

“Sipping and savoring life is and act of worship. Contentment comes as we relish the mercies God pours out in daily life.” The food we eat, the sleep that renews us, work, play, and  celebrating etc-all these gifts call us to praise and worship God.  You may not think that listening to music, writing poetry, painting etc can all be acts of worship but they are if we perform them with a sense of awe for our Creator. Caring and loving others, being God’s hands and feet of mercy to stranger, is often our highest act of worship. Worship is a way of life, not just something we do for an hour on Sundays.   As we go through our day let us choose to be mindful of the wonders around us, even when we have disappointments. Let us extend kindness in listening to each other, bear each other’s burdens, play whole heartedly etc. As we actively engage with the world we are God’s image bearers called to love and walk humbly with God. We are also called to come together corporately in worship and to encourage each other toward a life of hope, love, and thanksgiving. Let us come together regularly for we will be strengthened as we do this.

Heb, 10:23-25

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

We don’t have to change careers and downsize our life to begin to attend to rhythms in our lives.  The author writes about sleeping, eating, seasonal rituals and the Sabbath as examples of established rhythms of rest from daily life.

1.Sleep is necessary and good for us!  Most of us are sleep deprived and it affects our productivity and relationships. Depriving the brain of sleep is not healthy and affects our mental sharpness and kind responses to daily living.. Sleep is a gift-a daily reminder that we are frail humans that need rest.

2. Eating nourishes our body while satisfying our palate.  We need to “slow down and to choose what we eat with intention, and to gather with family and friends as we nourish our bodies with food.”.  Eating can become a meaningful part of our day as we use it as an opportunity to slow down  and to build fellowship into our eating. As we eat together it reminds us that we belong to something bigger than ourselves. Let us sip and savor our meals.

3. “ Seasonal rituals call our attention to the present and encourages us to be mindful of the underlying activity of a particular season.”  For the author her favorite Fall activity was to go into the forest on a windy day and let the trees rain down their leaves on her. It was a reminder to her to let go and trust that the work she had down was sufficient. Sometimes we engage in community-held celebrations and we pause from work and become aware of the season we are in.

4. Saving the Sabbath is to acknowledge our dependence on God who sustains us. This day invites us to pause, to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. Sabbath is a day we may walk in the woods, sit by the lake,

or anything that encourages us to be free from our usual tasks. “Sabbath rest is one of God’s good gifts, a discipline intended to bless.”

Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

Each moment in our life is sacred and can be savored for what God is doing in it.  “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven,” says King Solomon in Ecc. 3.   We are given bitter and sweet moments in our lives and he concluded that we should be happy and enjoy the fruits of our labor as gifts from God.  Perhaps he is suggesting that whatever our circumstances in any given season, we stop, calm ourselves and look around for gifts from God.  Maybe when we have had a frantic day we can just stop and focus on the goodness of life itself and the miracle of life.  That means slowing down and learning to just BE without having to DO!  If our job at present is demanding and extremely busy, we can try to balance it out with slowing-down periods through out the day. The author is a busy professor and some days instead of grading papers during lunch at her desk, she just went through the park and walked to a coffee shop. Such things help refocus our desire to live in the present and to slow us down. Let us all look for ways to build margins  around our lives and to seek rest and stay open to the wonder of the moment.