The “Secret” to Joy & Contentment

For the longest of times, even well into my adulthood, I thought joy and contentment were condition-specific and even location-specific. After all, how could you be joyful in prison or confined to bed or in a hospital room? How could you be content in a bad work environment or as a stranger in a foreign land or in a situation where it felt like everyone had judged you unfairly and turned their back on you?

But give me the refreshing environment of a mountain location, with cool temps, freshest of air and water, and the watery-trickle of the wind in the aspens. Or I’ll also take the relaxed, laid-back feeling of the beach, with seagull cry, waves pounding against the shore, sea-breeze tangling my hair. Yeah, I could be joyful and content in either place… Right?

The truth is, no matter where we live or how great or lousy our lives are at the moment, we can experience contentment and joy. Yes, they can be elusive, but not beyond our grasp. And even though the title indicates that the path to finding them is “secret,” that path is available to everyone.

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. -Philippians 4:11-13

Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” ~Nehemiah 8:10

Contentment and joy are the natural result of a life lived in the most intimate of relationships with the Lord. He is the one who lavishly bestows His great gifts upon us. So the “secret” of having joy and contentment is the Lord Himself. He grants us joy and contentment, which then strengthen us in the prisons and hospital rooms and bad situations of our earthly lives.

Thank You, Lord, for being the source of our joy, contentment, and strength.