I’ve read no fewer than six articles in the last week that deal with the issue of contentment. Whether talking about comparing income to others or wondering what life would be like if different decisions were made, it seems many of us are still focusing on that elusive Jones family and how to keep up with them.
A recent Harvard study asked college students if they would prefer to live in a society where they had an income of $50,000 and the average person earned $25,000; or one in which they had an income of $100,000 and the average person earned $200,000.
More than half chose the first option.
We love the idea that we’re making more than the average, don’t we? Makes us feel good deep down, like we’ve arrived. We love when we can tell someone that we’ve traveled to far-off destinations, too.
“Oh, you’ve never been there? I’ll have to show you my pictures.”
This must be what truly happy people do. They make more money and buy nicer things than the “average”. Who wants to be “average,” anyway? It’s such a bland word to define a whole group of people.
Unfortunately, contentment won’t be found in the next vehicle, house, vacation, dinner out, golf club, or handbag. If it was, there wouldn’t be so many weekend yard sales selling used contentment so inexpensively.
We’ll talk about how true contentment doesn’t equal consumption, but do we actually believe it? Our actions speak very loudly. When we compare our station in life to others, we begin transferring our power to change to someone else. You can redefine what contentment means in your own life; you don’t have to borrow anyone else’s version of contentment – nor the money to pay for it.
Ever struggle with accomplishing something? You can call it procrastination, but on a large scale it could mean never opening the business of your dreams or reaching a goal in your life you have always wanted to obtain.
The common Christian sees an obstacle and says “I’ll pray about it.” You hear this in the church all the time, and many times the only thing missing is action. So, what is my advice to you? Stop praying.
“But,” you claim, “doesn’t this advice go against everything the bible says?” The book of Exodus actually addresses this very situation. In fact, in chapter fourteen we see Moses leading his people out of Egypt when the enemy forces catch up and nearly overtake them. As they prayed through their grim situation the Lord says in verse fifteen, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!”
These people hit an impasse in their journey and praying simply was not enough. It was time for action!
What are you holding back from in your life that prayer has not resolved? Are you stuck in a career going no where? Are you drowning in debt and the only light you see in the tunnel is an oncoming train? What about that business you have always dreamed of starting? How is prayer helping you over come these obstacles?
Here is my advice. Pray that God gives you the wisdom and strength to turn your plans into action! When you have prayed all you can pray, then pray some more, but this time, DO something in your life!
I have a big goal in 2010. By December I am going to have 10,000 downloads of our radio show. This morning I upped it to 15,000. This is pretty big considering it took us two years to get to the 1,000 mark.
The hardest part about goal setting for me is dreaming. I tell my clients this every day. The challenge isn’t creating a goal and then reaching it but rather creating goals that are possible, yet stretching.
A few years ago I planned out five year goals for Lukas Coaching. Eight months later, all of them were complete. Some great things happened, but my problem was that I didn’t push myself to dream out of my comfort zone.
So I’m always pushing my clients to dream big and not to tie all of their goals to revenue.
“Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not loose heart.” ~Galatians 6:9
Sometimes I forget that many of the changes we make in our lives require a long time commitment to complete. Like others, I sometimes look for the magic bullet, the get rich quick, the “do this one thing and your life will be changed” mentality. I’m so eager to get on with my plan and can hardly wait for my actions to have the outcome I desire.
This can apply to any goal you might have. For instance, those who want to loose weight. It’s not easy to go to the gym 4 days a week and improve your eating habits only to see the scale budging by a mere 2-3 pounds. When our eye is on the end goal, we want to do whatever we can to reach it as quickly as possible; even if that means finding the easy way out.
But what if you were to reach your ultimate goal right now? What if there were some easy way to get it done? Would you have learned to change your life enough that you wouldn’t go right back to where you started?
Right now, for me, it’s paying off my school loan. I desperately want to be rid of it, but I know that I am learning many lessons along the way. If I weren’t so diligent in making payments every month I might take my income for granted and run up debt elsewhere.
For people who are trying to loose weight – if you lost 20 pounds, would you change your life or would you go right back to being heavy?
I think it’s important to remember that in the end, we will reap what we sow. Despite the fact that at times it’s hard to stay on track I know that I’m doing what it takes to ultimately win.
