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Key Bible Verse: Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 4:6, NIV). Bonus Reading: Luke 14:28-30

The third weapon of contentment is a realistic reach. Before you set a goal, candidly assess the time, the talents, and the resources you have. Jesus rebuked those who started a tower without calculating what it would take to finish it. We must know our strengths and limitations. Our lives were meant to be built on the capabilities and personality strengths a good God has given us. We don't need to strain to be somebody else. There's great satisfaction in focused energy and completed towers. If your reach will compromise a quiet center or push you beyond the boundaries of peace, consider it much too costly.

King David revealed the secret of a relaxed spirit: "Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or awesome for me. But I have stilled and quieted myself" (Psalm 131:1-2). To be content with our life position cancels out the reach for more. It means that who we are is okay—our looks, our abilities, our singleness. Where we are is okay too—our address, our school, our job, our position. And contentment includes how we are, even in a sickbed or with an empty wallet.

—Ron Hutchcraft in Living Peacefully in a Stressful World

My Response: When has my appetite for more created the stress I deplore?

Thought to Apply: To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment.—George Woodberry (college professor & poet)

Adapted from Living Peacefully in a Stressful World (Discovery, 1985, 2000) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me grateful for your past blessings, confident of your future provision, and at peace with my current circumstances.

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