I woke up meditating on life with James Cleveland’s Pandora station blasting in the background. While hurrying for work I was thinking about football, wondering if this would be the first summer in years when I haven’t had a vacation, balancing my budget in my head, deciding what gift I wanted to get my Daddy for his 70^th birthday, whispering ‘thank yous’ for simple gestures others made on my behalf, and then the words “be content, but don’t get too comfortable” came to me. Actually, those words have been popping in and out of my head a lot lately. Today, those words hit home and stuck to me like a warm slice of soft, fresh white bread to the roof of a mouth.

In Philippians 4:11, Paul speaks eloquently of the importance of being content no matter the situation. I get that. I’m good with that. However, in one of my all-time favorite verses found in Romans 8:28 the Word says all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. I get that too, and am definitely good with that. One scripture speaks of being content. The other speaks of not being too comfortable. Which is it? To me, today, it’s BOTH! Yes, things in our lives are the way they are and it is in our best spiritual interest to be as Merriam-Webster defines it, “pleased and satisfied”. We have to be content. But the flip side of the proverbial coin is the fact that, even in our state of contentment, we can rest assured that God is not done. We can’t get too comfortable.

For some of us, the challenge may be in being content…being grateful for where we are, what we have, who we have or what God has already done. For others, the struggle may be in believing that things can and will get better, recognizing when they actually have changed and knowing the importance of transitioning out of one season into the next. Either way, it’s a fine line that we all must gingerly walk.  I’d like to look at it as “it is what it is, but it won’t always be”.

Life is a lot like the seasons. I guess that’s why God strategically set it up that way so that we would always have a guide and some gentle reminders. Seasons remain as long as they are supposed to. And then, they change. We have to learn to graciously follow suit. We have to be content. After all, what good Father wouldn’t want his children pleased and satisfied no matter the situation? But we also can’t get stuck there. After all, what good Father wouldn’t want his children to always know that He’s changing seasons and situations on their behalf?

@AngelaMMoore316