Some Thoughts On Contentment

Contentment is a weird thing. It’s all the rage right now to make gratefulness lists and do what brings you joy, but I have been reminded over and over again in my walk with the Lord that contentment can only come from Him. No matter how many gratefulness lists I make or how hard I try to be content and not want more, I am not able to be joyful in every moment without His power.

This season, for me, has been a fresh reminder that there can be joy in every season, even when we don’t know what’s next or we’re waiting to see how things will work out. I have seen this described in Christian circles and sermons and all the places as finding joy in the waiting, but I feel like the Lord has challenged me on this lately.

What, exactly, are we waiting for? My bible tells me that I am waiting for the return of Jesus. I think it’s easy to get so caught up in earthly callings and earthly things that we lose sight of the only thing that we should truly be focused on waiting on.

When my heart takes this posture, it makes it easier to find joy in every season, because I realize that the only thing that I am truly waiting on is the return of the Lord. Everything else is just me worshipping Him however He sees fit in each season.

I have been convicted of my thoughts that once I get "xyz," then I will be able to help the people I want to help, and reach goals that I have set with the Lord for His glory, and get to where I think will be most fruitful. The Lord has been so good to remind me, yet again, that this is not the case.

I think of Paul, in the book of Philippians where he is in prison and says that he has learned the secret to being content.

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² 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. 

Philippians 4:11-12

It is so sweet and special to me when I can look around at how I’m experiencing the Lord and, in a fresh way in each season, say “this is true, not just because the Bible says it, but because I am experiencing it myself, in another way in this new season.”

The other week when I was at one of our pop-up markets, the reality that this season is good hit me so hard. I felt a fresh joy. It has been easy for me, at times, to think of pop-up shops and running Naz Thrift from my home as a stepping stone on the way to something better, but as I sat at the pop-up tent at this market with my friends by my side, drinking some summer market lemonade and meeting all of the awesome Naz Thrift shoppers, I was just so joyful. I realized that I will never get this sweet season of building Naz Thrift back.

Instead of building the things that I thought I would be building in this season or doing ministry in the places that I thought He wanted me to be doing ministry in, He has instead opened my eyes to what I can do right now in this season with what I do have. Not only has He given me eyes to see opportunities, He has given me an excitement and a joy to do these things, in place of what could have been prolonged sadness over unmet expectations or feelings of not doing “enough.”

I recently read a book by a home design influencer (Designed to Last by Ashley and Dino Petrone) where she talked about making the most of each house and each season that the Lord had given her and her family. It was such a sweet and simple reminder that there is so much beauty that can be created right here and right now. It took me a bit to come around to this realization and it truly only happened because the Holy Spirit gave me fresh revelation of what contentment is. I am praying He does the same for every person reading this today!

Author: Tayla Davis (CEO + Founder of Naz Thrift)