Happiness vs. Contentment

So often, we hear “I’m just not happy” as an excuse, whether for leaving a relationship, a job, an obligation, a family. While a continued lack of happiness may be indicative of an issue in your life, happiness is an emotion that is impossible to sustain 24/7. Contentment, however, is something that can be sustained, primarily because it comes directly from the Creator.

There is a reason why the Bible does not often talk about happiness but rather joy and contentment. To be sure, happiness is a good emotion! We may be extraordinarily happy when witnessing the work of the Lord, be it through a sunset or a newborn baby. I know that I am happy when I see a loved one after a time apart. Happiness abounds when friends unite for good conversation and laughter. But happiness cannot be continuously sustained, and consequently, it cannot sustain us.

And this makes sense: happiness is a uniquely temporal, earthly emotion, I think – an honest one, a good one, one that can be wrapped up in joy and contentment, but one that is altogether divorced from joy and contentment.

I’m mentioning joy and contentment together, but I really want to focus on contentment because it is such a different animal than happiness or even joy. In Philippians 4:11, Paul says, “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.”

Contentment happens in all situations, good and bad. You can be content in the face of anything. You cannot be happy in the face of anything. At least, most people find it difficult to be happy in every situation.

Happiness and contentment are different in the ways they play out in our lives. Personally, contentment is a lot harder. Happiness is an emotion often induced by action – be it laughter, good conversation, or going down a zipline over volcanoes in Guatemala. Contentment, on the flip side, is similar to peace in that it’s not initially an action. We can choose to be content or to accept the peace of the Lord, but it’s not something we can strive for.

Contentment is something we rest in and accept. Happiness is the result of something we do. Do you see the difference?

Contentment comes through resting in the everlasting arms of our comforter, our lover, Jesus Christ. Are you resting in His arms? Or are you striving against them?

Christ gives us so many reasons to trust Him, so many reasons to rest in Him. The beautiful promises of our awesome God abound throughout the Old and New Testaments. The following are a random assortment of promises spoken by Jesus in the some of the Gospels…

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

“The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:30-31

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…. If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed!” John 8:31, 36

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by my own…. My sheep hear My voice… and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:14, 27-28 (italics mine)

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 17:33

Do you hear the voice of your beautiful Savior? His very words promise knowledge of His truth, an abundant life, gifts that are good in His sight. He promises that He has overcome the world – for us. He sets us free from the confines of worry and pain, anxiety and a troubled heart… who the Son sets free is free indeed!

One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is when Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd and that we are His sheep. It is so humbling. I have no idea why He chooses us, but I am so very grateful that He does! What awesome gifts He gives us! What a blessing it is to be able to rest. In a troubled world filled with turmoil and tension, we as the beloved of Christ are offered rest… it is a free gift to any who believe in Him.

“I know My sheep, and am known by my own…. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand…”

That is why we can be content. Paul has learned in all things to be content – through shipwreck and snakebite and illness and prison and being jeered at and tormented… and this verse goes a long way in explaining why He is content. He knows his Savior, and his Saviors knows him, and Paul is able to rest in that. In the face of everything else, Paul knows that Jesus is right there with him. Paul was not alone, and we are not alone, either.

We are known by our Savior. You are known by Him. I am known by Him. Even when we do not acknowledge Him, He knows us. He loves us. He is the good shepherd who goes in search of His lost sheep.

Happiness comes and goes, and it is certainly fun, but I pray that it is not the litmus test that we measure our lives by. It is so inconstant, so reliant on our own selves and those around us. Contentment, though, is a guarantee from the one who put the stars in the sky. Contentment enables us to respond in faith to every situation. It is also perspective – contentment in the Lord gives us a good perspective on our lives.

Contentment = peace. No striving. No anxiety. No worry. Just an utter trust in our Lord and Savior. He is our Deliverer – He always delivers on His promises. His love never fails.

In all things, indeed, I am learning to be content. Lord, let that be so.

Day One

This isn’t Day One from the basement, but it’s Day One of this blog. Here goes nothin’.

In the interest of using good manners, even online (especially online), I’ll introduce myself. I’m the girl downstairs reporting from the basement – my mother’s basement that is. Her basement is located in the backwoods of northern Wisconsin, a lovely property that butts up against the woods and somehow got absorbed into a subdivision that sprang up years after this house was here. The reason for my being in backwater Wisconsin is that I’ve completed my classes for this semester. I’m a college senior – was a college senior? – and I’m graduating this May from a notable liberal arts college with absolutely no idea what is going to happen next.

How does a Type A, oldest child, overachieving student end up in her mother’s basement? Pretty darn easily. Let’s just say that I envisioned a different outcome for myself when I applied for Ph.D. track programs this last fall. I anticipated one, maybe two acceptances – that seemed par for the course (or so my professors said). However, in the middle of March, I found out that I would not in fact be attending graduate school this fall.

“Bummer” is probably the best way of appropriately expressing how I felt.

Truth is, by the time the twelfth rejection came around, I was realizing that I had rushed myself. In the midst of juggling class, relationships, and various projects, I had let something slip: the brutal honesty that comes with self-examination. I hadn’t considered the hard questions: what if you don’t go to school this next year? What is your identity in? Where does your confidence come from?  A few months later, I turned around – ten pounds heavier with twelve rejection letters in hand – and finally sat down with a pen and paper, sifting through the rubble in the hopes of finding a treasure.

What if I don’t go to school this fall? I write. I read. I do something that will help pay for student loans.

In what do I place my identity? I am a daughter of God, beloved of Christ. That is an eternal identity, an eternal inheritance. Unfathomable, but equally unchangeable.

Where does my confidence come from? It should come from God and knowledge that he has hedged me behind and before. But I’m working on that. Trust is hard.

When our lives look like a fuzzy TV, God is still in control. He always was, he is now, and all things truly work to the good of those who love Him who are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28).

In the midst of having my trappings and expectations collapse, I realized that I had not surrendered my dreams of graduate school to the one who put the stars in the sky. I had been consumed by the need to meet my own expectations, to impress others, to have a good response when people asked the ever-terrifying question, “What are you doing next year?”

(Minor aside: that question is the bane of every college senior’s existence, even if they have plans for next year, and asking it will do nothing more than induce heart palpitations. So consider their health and ask a different question – and “And what do you plan to do with [your random liberal arts] major” isn’t much better.)

All this to say, I’ve gone from being the Girl with the Plan to the Girl with No Plan. And I’m slowly coming to realize that that is an okay place to be. His love is enough to sustain me.

I’m job hunting, but I want to take this year to get to know myself again and – more importantly – to rest in the arms of my Creator and enjoy taking life slowly. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that something good will come of this time. This is the blog I’m going to keep on that journey. It may attract some readers; it may not. Regardless, it is my goal to post one thing a day. It may be a meditation or a link to a funny story or an encouragement or a scripture. Who knows? I just want to write and listen. Write and listen.

Write.

And listen.