Contentment–in THIS life.

Every mother has struggles. Or, even broader, every person has struggles.

How easy is it to say, “Mary has it so easy. She doesn’t struggle with not having enough money like I do.”

“Joan has it so much easier. Her children are so much more compliant and easier to parent than mine.”

“Marge has easy pregnancies. She’s so lucky.”

I could go on and on. It’s so easy to look at other lives, pick out the part that they aren’t struggling with quite as much as we are, and think their lives are better; God’s blessing them more – and end up in a disgruntled, envious, unsatisfied mess.

I’m here to tell you, dear friends, it’s not as black and white as all that. I’m preaching to myself lately, because my tendencies are to look at others’ lives and think that they have it so much easier than I do.

Ha.

The things she struggles with are things I cannot fathom. Different stresses. And chances are, she’s looking at my life and seeing the things that I have easier and thinking the same thing. If we could combine mine and fifty friend’s lives and all the best parts, we might, just maybe, end up with a perfect life.

But probably not.

We live in a fallen world, tainted by sin. We’ll all have struggles, until the day that we die. I’m so thankful, as I preach this message of contentment to myself, that I don’t have all the problems of me and those fifty friends. God is gracious, giving us what we can handle so that we can learn, grow, and become more like Him.

That’s something to contemplate as we attempt to rest in contentment in our own lives.