Contentment and Desire

We were walking down the sidewalk on Sunday afternoon when my friend started telling me about her struggle to be content. She said, “I just keep thinking about the future and all the things I want and feeling impatient and it’s frustrating.”

I thought about her complaint for a minute. The truth is, I often find myself in the same boat — always wanting something that just isn’t here yet, always dreaming, always feeling like I haven’t quite arrived and I’m searching for the thing that will be the thing. I struggle to be content.

“I swear I think about these things 200 times a day,” she said, “and it’s exhausting!”

After a short pause, I asked her if I could respond. She nodded, so I said, “ What if, the next time you start thinking about all these things you want, you see it as an opportunity to talk to God? Just say, “Hey God, these are the things I want.” Then trust him with it. 

“You think that’s what I should do?” she asked.

“Yes! I definitely do.”

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again….and again and again. One of the most helpful sentences I’ve read in the last couple of years has come from Aaron Niequist. He said: “Spiritual practices don’t do anything to get us closer to God. They make us aware of God who is already always around us.”

Each moment of frustration, worry, fear, anger is an opportunity for us to come before him and say, “Help.”

Each moment of joy, gratitude, excitement is an opportunity for us to come before him and say, “Thank you.”

Each moment of desire and longing is an opportunity for us to come before him and say, “Hey God, I want this thing.” And then lay it at his feet. 

It’s easy to think that wanting something that you don’t already have is a bad thing, that wanting to be somewhere other than where you are demonstrates a lack of contentment. But I’m beginning to realize that true contentment happens when you’re able to fully express what you long for to God while also resting and remaining grateful for where you currently are. 

God meets us in our desires. If we want to know God fully, we must know ourselves fully. We must be able to fully name what we want and hold it openly before him. Contentment and surrender go hand in hand, and in order to surrender, we must first claim the thing we are bringing before God. 

So what do you want from God today? 

Name it before him. You don’t need fancy words, and you don’t need to twist your heart into some crazy contortion of misdefined contentment. Just own what you want and lay it before him. It’s like breathing. Inhale what you want, and exhale it before God. Inhale what you want, and exhale it before God. Inhale what you want, and exhale it before God.

Keep breathing. God is with you in your desire.