“True contentment,” G. K. Chesterton wrote, “is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.”
So how do we cultivate such contentment?
Chesterton’s surprising connection between /kənˈtent/ and /ˈkäntent/ has lately been a world of help to me.
Mama said there’d be days like this. And God said there’d be mercy to match. But how do you take it in hand and pick it off mercy’s tree?
“We’ve moved on with another player. The offer is off the table.” When that unjust, punch-in-the-gut news came Wednesday, this truth grounded me. It is the only mindset that could possibly convert that (bitter) disappointment into (real) joy
“Who or what you fear is that which controls you.” —Ed Welch, “What is the Fear of Man, and Why is it so Dangerous?” Mom learned to swim when I did. I was six. She was thirty-two. Imagine my surprise that lesson at the ‘Y’ when I spotted my strong, capable mom clinging to the…