Learning to appreciate the simple things

Peg DesEnfants
Posted 7/17/20

He was content for a few days.

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Learning to appreciate the simple things

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He was content for a few days. The grass was as high as we had seen it in years. Water was being pumped fresh and cold from the ground. We had hand-picked a herd of cows just for him to call his own. There was one problem, a fence.

It appeared to him the grass on the other side of the fence was much greener and tenderer than what he had. The cows were the same color, make and model, but man oh man, were they pretty. Their drinking tank even looked better as they had a smaller supply tank to drink out of. He was just sure that water had to be fresher out of that tank.

The contentment was over and the fight began. One bull was injured, and the fence was no longer as it should be. Things were a mess.

I wonder if God just shakes his head, just as we did when we found the bulls and the cows in a mess. When it rains we want sunshine, when the sun is shining we want rain. If it is cool we want heat, and when it is hot we can’t wait for fall. We need snow, but not during calving. We need rain, but not during haying. Are we ever satisfied?

Many years ago we ran out of cheese at our house just before we sold our calves. Our daughter asked for cheese and was told we weren’t buying any until we sold, because frankly there was no money for cheese. The big day came. We went to the sale barn, sold the calves, and as we walked into the grocery store she stood in the basket and loudly announced, “We sold the calves, and we can buy cheese!” Oh to be content with cheese.

Want versus need. Content versus discontent. To live life on our side of the fence in the lush surroundings that God has provided, and be grateful and content. It takes practice, we are learning. 

Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”