When Rob told me one of my ‘Advent Words’ was Content. I walked the dog and considered the meaning of it. Both content as in what’s inside, and content as in being fulfilled by what we have and do came to mind. And I was surprised that the two can often be in opposition.
St. Sheryl Crowe wrote: “It’s not having what you want; it’s wanting what you’ve got”. In the late 1940’s Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays speculated that if the Nazi’s could manipulate a whole population for evil; businesses could do so to sell things. He called it ‘Public relations’ and it became the advertising industry. Wall Street banker Paul Mazur said:
‘We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. … People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.’
This works for time as well as material goods, for lifestyle and morality and ethics and even charity. Like it or not we are bombarded by messages of what the Content of our lives should be – you’d be happy if [insert Content here]. But, as Paul Mazur said, the trick is to keep us continually discontented. It would be whole other conversation to include social media in this post.
So, I want you to do a little exercise for the next few days – it’s a bit clunky but humour me. Each morning consider what you’d be impressed with if you saw someone else doing it. What slowing down content do you admire in others. Going to the beach or woods. Going for a walk at lunchtime. Sitting in a café, station, town centre and people watching. Claire often sits in our bay window and eats her breakfast looking at the world going by – that always stands out for me. So have a go and think of something – and then do it!
Matthew 6 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Photo Challenge: Take a picture of something inspired by the word content. Use the hashtag #woryem
Content
Content to be
Content with what you have
Content
You can be content in this advent season
Stop for a moment
Slow down a little.
We are a community of faith.
Strandlopers on a journey.
You can be content in this season of advent
By God’s grace we go.
Amen
I’ve been a member of BCFX for about 2 years. I love it. It’s home and hearth, welcome and challenge, ebb and flow.