Monday, September 20, 2010

Contentment

Contentment: defined as.... "The state of being content. Satisfied. Ease of mind".

Boy, that sure tells me a lot. Glad I looked THAT up!.....:-)

I happened to catch part of a program on the telly (that's British for "television")... over the weekend. It was about a bazillionaire who lived most of his life on a specially-made yacht. It was like a floating city. His wife was being interviewed and she took the camera crew on tour of the whole place. Her and her husband's living quarters were over 3500 square feet. (It was their "personal space" on the yacht. They could entertain myriad guests who had their own bed/bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, whatever....
The filming crew went up on top of the ship and had a brief interview with the husband. He was showing them how he had built his own "golf course" on the yacht. It was a part of the deck that would come up mechanically from somewhere below. It was a putting green. He could stand out there on the "green" and hit golf balls out into the ocean. They had hired-hands who had little speed boats that would go out and place markers in the water so he could see how far he had hit the ball. They (the "servants", would place the markers out in the ocean and cheer him on when he hit the ball close to the markers. If he played a golf game with someone, whoever hit closest to the markers would win each "hole". He looked into the camera and said, "Whenever I have a guest on-board and we play "golf", I always win.... because (they) know who writes the checks!"
That statement reminded me of an episode of The Twilight Zone where this guy on the show dies. He loves to play pool and he ends up in an amazing pool-room, playing the game he lived for. He thought he had died and gone to heaven. The problem was....he never lost a game.... never. No matter how poorly he played. He finally exclaimed, "If this is how it's going to be for eternity I wish I "hadn't died and gone to heaven!".... The other guys in the room just looked at him and said, "What makes you think this is Heaven?.....

King Solomon was the richest man who ever lived. He wrote a book which is included in the Bible. It is the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon writes: "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet, when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:10)....

Often it is easy to watch a show like the one I watched over the weekend and be envious of someone who has so much..... who "apparently" has so much. Is this guy really happy with all his wealth, all his opulence... his mornings of fresh-squeezed orange juice and Eggs Benedict delivered to his quarters by servants every morning?...
Maybe so. I don't know. It's too easy for me to judge him and his wife and their imported granite table-tops and polished mahogany interiors.
Is this happiness? Is this the picture of contentment? Is this what we should all be striving for?..... more and better "stuff"?....
Solomon himself came to this conclusion later on in his life. "So I hated life,... I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?".... (Ecc. 2:17)
I compare this to what the Apostle Paul wrote about his own life when he was writing to the his friends in the city of Philipi. "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."... ) Phillippians 4:11.

Contentment is a state of mind. For the addict, contentment is (or should be), waking up every morning in peace, being able to "not" spend his/her day chasing the "high" of addiction. To live a life of internal peace. That is the purpose of the 12-Step Program. To ultimately bring us to a place of finding peace with our Higher Power, our Creator,... the One who knows exactly what we need in life, for He is the One who created us, who knows our very thoughts, our very longings. For the rich man, like Solomon, his "addiction" is chasing after the seemingly perfect life of "things", more things, finer things, and "accomplishments", ....climbing the "ladder of succes". It seems all well and fine, except when a person actually gets to the top of the ladder, all that's found there is "empty space".... a standing in mid-air with nowhere else to go...but back down.

All of us, at some point, need to evaluate our own lives. What are we seeking? What are we "after"? What do we need to make us "content"?
Personally I think it's all about trying to fill a "God-Shaped" hole in our souls that we are born with. That's the conclusion the Apostle Paul came to, and he had found that contentment. Though he wasn't a rich man materially, Paul had something in his life that money couldn't buy, ... a personal relationship with God, Who abundantly supplied every need.
Is this the secret of real life? No one else can answer that question for you, but it might be a wise thing to actually take time-out to ask the question.
Like the man on The Twilight Zone episode, perhaps the real definition of "hell" is actually getting everything we (think) we want......?

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