The Gift of Contentment

We were at the beach, and my oldest son was collecting seashells. I asked him what he was going to do with all of them. He said he was going to make a necklace for a special girl. I thought of all the little girls in his circle of friends, and one in particular came to mind. I asked, "Does her name start with a C?"

He said, "No, her name starts with an L."

I went through the short list of little girl L names I knew, even mentioning some of the mommies with L names. But with a smile, he said no to each one. Then I thought of my name. Although my name is Alisa (uh-lĭs-uh), my husband usually takes out the beginning A and calls me (lĭs-uh).

I called my son close to me and whispered in his ear, "Is it lĭsa?" He smiled and blushed and nodded his head yes. I gave him a big hug, and all that day I felt like a treasure. My son may have confused my name, but it didn't affect how I felt about his eagerness to bless me.

Isn't it beautiful how the love we have will overlook the small mistakes and focus on the show of devotion? However, when I thought about this, I remembered that early in my marriage I was not very good at forgiving oversights. My husband would go out of his way to do something nice, but many times it wasn't according to my anticipation. I would zero in on what I didn't like, instead of appreciating the beauty of his sacrifice.

After a time, my husband stopped trying to do special things to spoil me. I didn't blame him, because I had filled his gift-offerings with negative energy. Why would he continue giving when he could never get it right? I quickly discovered my mistake and worked hard to reverse the damage I created. I changed my perspective and openly accepted everything he did for me and gave me. Moreover, I started to realize that I enjoyed his taste and ideas. Now my husband rocks at giving!

We live in a very self-indulged society. We are used to getting everything exactly how we want it; and if we don't, we show our discontent. We are swimming in blessings, and we don't realize that everything we receive is a gift. When we start being picky, we might need to shed off some pounds of selfishness and let go of our self-entitled attitude. The gift is not as important as the person who gives it.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances" (Philippians 4.11 NIV).