Girl Talk // I Want More!

Have you ever seen Charlie & the Chocolate Factory?  Remember Veruca Salt?  The girl who already has everything but starts every sentence with "Daddy, I want...."  She's kind of awful, right?

Or how about this....

Ok, maybe this girl is just adorable.  And maybe I just love these commercials.  But how true is what she says?  How often do we think "we want more! we want more!"?  

Lately, I've been feeling that ache of discontentment; of just wanting more.  More from my job, more from those around me, more from life.  I get this feeling from time to time, as I imagine most twenty-somethings do when they're still trying to figure their life out.  When it comes around, it's easy to try to cover up the feeling, to put a band-aid on it.  (For me, this often comes in buying a new dress or purse...let's call it retail therapy.)

But at the end of the day, the feeling of discontentment is there, rearing it's ugly head, and staring me in the face, taunting me with what "could be".  It's a season that is hard to weather, and one that is easy to feel stuck in.

1 Timothy 6:6-7 says this:  But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.  For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

Oh man.  Conviction, right?  If we are to be godly, then we are also called to be content.  Honestly, contentment means so much more than just not wanting more stuff.

It means finding value in where God has put you.  It means looking around you and thinking "How can I be an influence on the people I interact with every day?  How can I bless those I come in contact with?  What opportunities is God placing in front of me that I might not have if my life were different?"

I think we need to go through seasons of discontentment in order to realize the beauty in what we have.  The thing is, the world is kind of poised to make us feel like we're always missing out.  We're constantly bombarded with photos of the exciting and magical trips our friends are taking, or advertisements for things we don't have and can't afford.  And it's really easy to take all of that in and feel like your life just doesn't measure up.  

But contentment comes from finding things in your present to be thankful for.  It comes in valuing the relationships you do have and not pining after someone else's seemingly-perfect ones.  It comes in being joyful and appreciative and prayerful.  It comes in asking Jesus to create a spirit of contentment within you, and then digging deep and blooming where you're planted.  

It's a lesson I'm working on learning.