Tag: contentment

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Short Story: Distorted Views

window

Ava walked silently through the town, deep in thought. She’d had a hard day—or maybe I should say a hard month or even year. Nothing had gone the way she wanted. She’d sprained her arm—it was wrapped in a splint under her coat, effectively rendering it hard for her to do much at all. Except walk. She was hoping this walk would help clear her head and lift the fog from her heart.

She paused at the first home she passed, stealing a glance in the window as she did. She saw a little boy laughing and a mom pulling a plate of steaming hot cookies out of the oven. The scene looked so warm…so inviting.

There aren’t any cookies back at my house…and I can’t bake them with this arm, Ava thought to herself. She sighed and walked on.

The next home she passed looked strangely like one from her early childhood. Almost exactly like it, actually. She ventured a longer look inside this time and gasped at what she saw. There was a little girl who looked remarkably like she had, playing with her brother and sister, giggling and laughing. The scene brought back a rush of memories of the fun she used to have with her siblings—siblings that had long since grown up and moved out. If only she could go back in time…

“Ava, what are you doing?” The voice came, not from within the house or her head this time, but from next to her. Her friend Ella stood by her side.

“Just remembering,” Ava replied. “This window—it’s like a glimpse into my past.”

“A distorted glimpse,” Ella replied.

“What do you mean?” Ava inquired.

“Did no one warn you about the windows in this town?” Seeing Ava’s silence, Ella hastened to continue. “They’re coated with a special substance that distorts what you see. They only show the good, not any of the hard or the bad. Take this home, for instance. You see a scene that reminds you of happy moments from your childhood. But you don’t see all the times you and your siblings quarreled, or the hard days you had then too. Like the time you broke your back, remember?”

Ava remembered. She’d had to rest for weeks. The past hadn’t always been easy. “I wish my life could be more like that glimpse I saw in the house over there,” she muttered, pointing back to the home with the fresh cookies.

“You mean the distorted glimpse you saw,” Ella corrected. “If we could look through true glass into that home, we’d find it has struggles too. Is that the Jones’s house? I think the husband just lost his job. You can’t escape hardships, Ella. They come in different shapes and sizes, but we all have them.

“But here’s the deal. You can spend the rest of the day pining after distorted pictures through the windows, or you can head back home and see about making some beautiful memories yourself. Just because you can’t move your arm doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Ava asked. She still wasn’t 100% convinced.

“Like lose to me at a game of chess,” Eva replied with a laugh. “You don’t need two hands for that!”

“That’s true,” Ava replied with a laugh that a few minutes ago had felt impossible. She turned around from the town with the distorted windows back to her reality. She was glad she’d made the positive memories she had in her early childhood, and she wanted to go on making beautiful memories today in this new season, with life’s new challenges…and blessings.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

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Story: Playing on the Job

hammer

Derick didn’t feel like working that morning. He wanted to be playing.

So instead of working hard, he played around on the job, trying to get everyone’s attention to get them to play too. He tried to get his coworkers to laugh at jokes. He tried to juggle his hammer as if it were a ball. He lined up the nails in a pattern instead of hammering them into the wood.

Derick’s plan to get attention worked, only not the way he expected. His boss came over and said words Derick never wanted to hear: “You’re fired.”

Derick pleaded and said he hadn’t meant any harm, but it was no use. He’d made choices, and those choices had consequences. With a heavy heart, Derick headed to his car. How would he feed his family with no job? How would he make money to go do fun things?

Derick learned a very important lesson that day—one that he wished he had learned long before. There’s a time to work, and a time to play. And when it’s time to work, we need to do it with all our heart, as if God Himself were our boss.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV)

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 (ESV)

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Story: The Search for the Perfect Food

Steak - Story
  • Steak - Story“This steak is amazing!”

Jessica exclaimed, heartily digging into her steak.

“You think so? I was thinking that it’s not nearly as delicious as that Chinese place we went last night.”

Jessica shook her head at her sister’s comment. It didn’t seem that Sue could be contented by anything. When they were at the Chinese restaurant down the street, all Sue could talk about was how she wanted a steak.

“Perhaps next time we should try something totally different—maybe Indian food,” Jessica suggested.

Sue’s eyes lit up. “That sounds great! Let’s do it.”

Only when eating the Indian food, Sue found it too spicy. So next they tried a Greek restaurant…only to discover it was too bland for Sue.

Next stop: a Mexican restaurant famous for their tasty dishes. Only while eating Mexican, all Sue could think of was how much better Italian would be.

Jessica hesitatingly agreed to go to an Italian restaurant the next time her sister asked her out to eat. But when Sue began complaining about all the tomatoes and cheese and about how what they really needed was a good, all-American steak, Jessica decided she’d had enough.

“You know, Sue, food can’t make you content,” Jessica pointed out. “Maybe you’re expecting it to do more than it was designed to do.”

Do we look for contentment in things that can’t bring it? Or have we learned the secret of being content wherever we are?

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV)

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Short Story: Enjoy the Journey

Short Story

Short StoryAlthough Emma had told her father he could drive her wherever he chose, she seemed to be having a hard time relaxing and letting him do so. Every so often, she had actually grabbed the steering wheel, attempting to turn the car where she thought it should go.

Then she’d remember and let go again, relaxing for a few minutes and letting her father drive. That is, until she forgot again…

“You know,” her father reminded her after she began panicking about the direction they were going. “I’ve got this trip all planned out. I know where I’m going.”

Emma smiled up at her father, a wave of relief splashing over her. Her father knew just where he was taking her, and he knew and loved her perfectly. Why did she keep thinking she knew better?

“Now,” her father continued, “how about relaxing and enjoying the journey? Look out that window—isn’t that a beautiful sight?”

Emma gasped as she looked out the window. The sun was rising, spreading warmth and light in all directions. What a breathtaking scene she’d been missing out on!

“Oh, Father!” she cried. “I don’t want to miss out on one more minute of the journey.”

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (KJV)

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)

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The God We PraiseLooking for a way to cultivate a heart of gratitude in your children?

Check out the Thanksgiving Devotional, the God We Praise. For the 21 days leading up to and including Thanksgiving, look at an attribute of God each day together. The devotional includes coloring pages for children (along with instructions on how to put them together into their own little books), as well as fun activity ideas that reinforce that day’s readings.

[thrive_link color=’green’ link=’https://www.christianperspective.net/product/the-god-we-praise-e-book’ target=’_self’ size=’medium’ align=”]Learn More[/thrive_link]

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