Meditations on God

Much of the time, the source of our contentment or discontentment can be found within us. 

However, certain places, circumstances, or relationships are much more likely to make us feel discontented than others. 

Whether by design or coincidence, they are overwhelmingly difficult, unpleasant, or frustrating to deal with. 

This is true regardless of how we respond to them. 

It seems to be outside of our control. 

No matter what we do, we find ourselves feeling worse, not better, after having involved ourselves with them. 

There are lessons to be learned from these instances and, of course, we should do our best to be content in spite of them, but there will be times when our only hope for contentment will be distance, whether that distance be in time, space, or both. 

If, with this distance, we find that we are no less content, we can easily conclude that we are to blame. 

Our problem clearly resides within ourselves. 

If, however, upon creating distance between ourselves and whatever place, circumstance, or relationship that was previously giving us trouble, we notice that our lives have significantly improved because of this distance, we should conclude that the problem was not with us, alone. 

This does not get us off the hook, however. 

There is still work to be done. 

If we want to find contentment within ourselves, regardless of external conditions, we will need to, and of course we will want to, seek out the root cause of our discontentment when faced with certain places, circumstances, or relationships.