ONE HANDFUL WITH TRANQUILITY
Kendra Intihar
Today's Scripture: “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:4, ESV
Theme: Stop comparing. Stop envying. Stop striving. Your life will be sweeter when you value contentment over competition.
DAYDREAMING
Martha Washington once said, “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances.” I used to keep this quote pinned up so that I could see it daily because there were times when my circumstances were less than ideal. It helped me to remember that as long as my basic human needs were met, I could choose contentment.
When my husband and I first got married, we were living in a 650 sq. ft. one-bedroom apartment. I remember sitting down and drawing imaginary floor plans and elevations for a gigantic farmhouse. I probably still have them somewhere. It was a big, two-story foursquare with a full wraparound porch. Eric and I would drive past neighborhoods with huge houses and see swing sets in the back yard, wondering aloud what on earth these thirty-somethings must be doing for a living and how they achieved such a luxurious existence at their age...with small children. Daydreaming isn’t necessarily bad, but in our case, it was leading to some pretty serious covetousness and envy.
JUST ENOUGH
From the time we lived in that little apartment to today, Eric and I have moved eight times. When we moved here, we fell in love with a little craftsman that had been built in 1922. Our daughter was six when we bought it, and by the time we moved in, she had been schlepped around so much that she was over the moon to finally have a “forever house.” It wasn’t a big foursquare, but it was absolutely everything we needed. Watching our little girl touch the walls of her new bedroom, walk through the grass of her very own back yard, and sit – dazzled – in the furniture-less living room floor with a milkshake and a sense of peace is a memory I will never forget. It wasn’t what I had planned, but it was its own kind of perfect. It was just enough. It still is.
PRACTICING GRATITUDE
Sometime between drawing out those farmhouse plans in 2004 and moving into our “forever house” in 2014, I had begun attempting to practice the spiritual discipline of gratitude. Gratitude was the gateway to finally learning the lesson my dad had attempted to teach me my entire childhood: “You’ll never be happy with what you get unless you can be happy with what you’ve got.”
Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, says it this way: “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:6 (NIV).
My dad, Martha Washington, and King Solomon all had something in common: They knew that chasing after shiny objects doesn’t bring us true and lasting joy. Whatever our circumstances may be, gratitude transforms self-pity into contentment and scarcity into abundance.
Make it Personal: I find that even when I have my “one handful with tranquility,” I am still tempted to aim for “two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” This week, I am going to be intentional about practicing gratitude for everything the Lord has done for me...even the tiny things. I would love for you to join me.
What are you thankful for at this moment? A recent accomplishment? The cup of coffee you’re drinking? The quiet of your home first thing in the morning or late at night? The way the light hits your room just right at certain hours of the day? Hugs from your children? Cuddles from your pet?
Even when things aren’t great, there are thousands of things we can be intentionally grateful for. The more we practice gratitude on purpose, the more it becomes a habit, and the more we begin to notice that we do, indeed, have “one handful with tranquility” and don’t need to compete or compare. How will you practice gratitude this week?
Pray: Lord, You are a God of “enough.” You clothe and feed the birds, so I know You’re taking care of me, too. Give us our “daily bread,” and help us to recognize the abundance in our lives, even when it seems as though we need more. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Read: Philippians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 6:6-8; Colossians 3:15; Matthew 6:21
Weekly Memory Verse: "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT