A male cardinal repeatedly crashed into our living room window years ago when we lived in Sandy Lake. Sometimes he fell to the ground, stunned, only to get up and try again.* One day I said, “Silly bird! Don’t you know you’d be miserable in our house?”

Soon after my friend, Betty,** told me, scornfully, about the first house she and her husband owned─a small ranch style with an orange and brown kitchen–and her longing for a nicer house. Remembering the cardinal, I looked around at their lovely spacious home with every modern convenience and wondered if she was happy. About a year later she sat in our living room and wailed, “I hate my life!” Eventually, she left her husband and children and moved into a small apartment. The large, beautiful house had not brought happiness. Although she was a Christian, she hadn’t understood that “only Jesus can satisfy your soul.”

I was sobered by my friend’s experience and reminded of the day I’d made a decision to be contented. I’d always loved our Sandy Lake home and never thought of being dissatisfied until we began attending a new church. Many of our new friends had more affluent lifestyles than we did, and I began to feel self-conscious about our house. It was well over a hundred years old and a bit shabby─especially the carpet we couldn’t replace because of my allergies. Would our new friends look down on us when they discovered where we lived?

One day while weeding our flower bed, I spotted discontentment growing in my heart and saw it for what it was: a nasty weed, a temptation from the enemy of my soul.  I realized I could entertain this “weed,” allowing it to grow and choke out my joy, or I could pull it. I chose contentment with the home God and my hardworking husband had provided, recognizing that true friends would love me regardless of where I lived. I pulled the weed.

In Exodus 16 when the children of Israel complained to Moses, he said, “Your complaints aren’t against us, they are against God.” We often fail to recognize that when we complain, our complaints are really against God and His provision for us. Grumbling was one of  the Israelite’s greatest downfalls in their wilderness journey, and it can be ours as well. Few things make life more miserable than a complaining heart.

Recently, we had the opportunity to visit my sister, Ruth, in the lovely home she shares with her husband, Harold. I love visiting them, enjoying their hospitality and their beautiful home. As I sat on the couch looking at my surroundings, I felt only joy at God’s provision for my sister. I rejoiced that it’s possible to delight in what God has provided for someone else, while being completely satisfied with what He’s given us. The Apostle Paul was right when he said, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (I Timothy 1:6).

Father, help us to be quick to spot the weed of discontentment in our hearts and to pull it  before it pollutes our souls. Amen

 *I’ve learned cardinals are territorial and this cardinal was likely fighting a perceived intruder (his reflection), but at the time, he appeared to be trying relentlessly to get into our living room. This photo is not of “our” cardinal.

**Name has been changed.