Contentment
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Updated
May 12, 2008
A woman confessed that she struggled with envy of her affluent sister, but she
was able to put it into proper perspective after one visit.
She and her son were visiting the sister in Dallas, where the sister resided in a palatial estate with eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a large swimming pool. The boy was swimming in the giant pool while the sisters sat at pool-side. He swam up to his aunt and proclaimed, "When I get home, I'm going to swim in our pool. We have a pool like this in the backyard." Then he added, "All we have to do is get daddy to blow it up and put water in it!"
Children have a way of helping us put things in perspective. Rather than clinging to envy, we can recognize what we already have as being special. True satisfaction in this life comes not from getting something bigger and better, but from learning to enjoy what we already have.
She and her son were visiting the sister in Dallas, where the sister resided in a palatial estate with eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a large swimming pool. The boy was swimming in the giant pool while the sisters sat at pool-side. He swam up to his aunt and proclaimed, "When I get home, I'm going to swim in our pool. We have a pool like this in the backyard." Then he added, "All we have to do is get daddy to blow it up and put water in it!"
Children have a way of helping us put things in perspective. Rather than clinging to envy, we can recognize what we already have as being special. True satisfaction in this life comes not from getting something bigger and better, but from learning to enjoy what we already have.
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Illustration by: Merle Mees, Western Hills
Baptist Church, Topeka, KS