Spilling The Green Tea

With Thanksgiving around the corner, much attention is given to food, food and more food. Stress levels run high, frequent trips to the grocery store for last minute ingredients occur and hours upon hours are spent baking, roasting, and frying.

After spending days preparing for Thanksgiving, you sit down to enjoy the delicious food and within 30 minutes it’s over. I am not diminishing Thanksgiving at all, just reiterating some facts I have observed in my 40 years. Thanksgiving is in fact a wonderful holiday and I am a firm supporter of it especially when it is largely overlooked. Halloween comes and goes and then all of sudden Christmas is the main priority. What happened to Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a time of remembrance; a time to settle and reflect on all your blessings that God has given you. As we enter a season where retail greed thrives, it makes it even more important to look at the little things in our lives and appreciate what we have. From having a home, good health, family and friends, a job, food on the table, clothes…etc, those are life’s blessings.

With people having to scale back and settle down a bit during COVID and now with inflation at record highs and people not having the expendable cash, I feel like more people are not taking life for granted as they did before. They have started to appreciate the little things in their lives. You don’t have to go out and spend $$$ to have fun when you can sit around and play a board game or watch a movie together or work on a DIY project.

Just as I mentioned in my previous blog regarding Hygge, people need to practice times of quiet, times of peace and take joy in doing the little activities in your daily life.

Being a holistic health blog, I’m not going to touch on anything regarding our physical bodies, but give enlightenment on the actual practice of thanksgiving and discuss the secret of contentment. Our mental and spiritual health is just as important as our physical health and there are many days when we need to hear some uplifting words and encourage to better our mental and spiritual health.

This past Sunday at my church, our Pastor preached a sermon titled, “The Secret of Contentment”. He purposely discussed contentment with it being the Thanksgiving holiday season. I found it very informative and eye-opening. It made me reflect on myself and my attitude on my personal life.

He preached about Solomon, a monarch from ancient Israel and son of David, who had everything a person could possibly want or need, but learned that better things and better circumstances do not lead to contentment.

With materialism and vanity influencing our society via the media, social media, propaganda, and Hollywood, people tend to claim they would be happy (content) if they had just this one “thing”. If I had that BMW I would be content. If I had that 6500 square foot house I would be happy. If I had just one more designer purse I would be content. I just need one more Rolex and then I would be happy. If only I was taller. If only I was skinnier. If only my hair was blonder. Then I could finally be happy, right?

But would you really be happy? Nothing on this Earth will last forever so how can we achieve contentment?

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 states, “This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Proverbs 15:15 states, “A cheerful (content) heart has a continual feast.

Solomon’s teachings on contentment is something we all could learn especially when you read about political discontentment, job discontentment, economical discontentment, and religious discontentment.

So what are the aspects of contentment? Pastor preached:

Essence of Contentment:

Contentment is defined as “a state of happiness or satisfaction”. It is usually viewed as being passive, meaning not taking action and allowing or accepting what happens. But is contentment truly passive even though society celebrates it as being passive? Contentment is actually active. It is taking what you already have and making the most out of it.

G.K. Chesterton, a theologian, stated: “True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.”

Make the most out of what you already have. In Philippians 4: 13, Paul discusses contentment: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” You can make the most out of having a lot or make the most out of having a little.

Importance of Contentment:

There is a saying, “And suddenly I realized that every single thing in my life is fleeting and only God is eternal.”

Life is born one day and dies another day and there is nothing we can do to stop it. All you can do is decide how to spend the days of your life. You may be hoping for or dreaming about something that may never come. You need to enjoy and be thankful for what you have right in this moment.

Don’t overlook all the good things in your life by hoping and wishing for something that may never happen or you may never get.

Take a look at the below visual:

What do you see?

Most people would point out the black dot. The black dot represents negativity. Don’t focus on the negativity. Look at the white space (positivity); there is way more white than black. Think of all the good things in your life and don’t focus on the “what if”, the “I wish” and the “I need”. Don’t take your blessings for granted.

Experience of Contentment:

How can we experience contentment in our lives?

God created you and already charted your lot in life; a specific lot for you and only you alone. Too many of us compare our lots in life with others and it causes us to become frustrated, jealous and angry. You may ask yourself why someone else’s lot in life is better than yours. You may think if I had that person’s lot in life than I would be content.

Ecclesiastes 5:19: “Moreover when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil – this is a gift of God.”

Solomon had everything you could possibly want; all pleasures in all forms. However, throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon becomes weary of pleasure from worldly possessions, and says everything is meaningless. Only God can fulfill you.

Think about Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. They were given a beautiful garden. Trees that bore fruit to eat. Perfect weather. No pain. No sickness. No sin. However, amongst all that perfect paradise, they were tempted to go to the ONE tree that was forbidden by God; the one tree where the Devil deceived them and thus began the fall of man.

It is the same circumstance in our own lives. Instead of being happy with what is around us, we navigate to the one thing we can’t have and then become discontented.

Remember Jesus is the only One that can fulfill our desires; the only One that can fill that hole in our hearts. Jesus can give us the spiritual and mental strength to maximize our lots in life.

Solomon further explains in Ecclesiastes 5:20: “God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.”

In 1 Timothy 6:6: “godliness with contentment is a great gain.”

You must turn to the source of all contentment, Christ Himself, to make the most out of our lives and experience true contentment.

So my prayer for you this Thanksgiving season, is that you find contentment through Christ. May God watch over you and your family and give you the strength to maximize your lot in life.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Contentment!