Reminders: Sowing a Seed of Contentment
by Ardith Hoff
The figure of speech, “sowing the seeds of discontent” has been around for centuries. It refers to the practice of starting a process of convincing people that a future event or problem is likely to happen, and the process itself causes the event or problem to happen. While that can be a negative thing, the same process can be used for positive outcomes. Sowing the seeds of contentment can be used to convince people that they can live a more satisfying life if they change their attitudes about money and material things.
It is natural to want to have a good, reliable source of income for the security of our families. We all want a good job and to live comfortably. These are worthy goals, but the U.S. economy is partially based on the idea that we can have an even better life if we buy what we want and pay for it later. There is nothing wrong with that idea, as long as we spend responsibly. Problems happen when we allow ourselves to buy things we don’t need and can’t actually afford.
We are all susceptible to advertising and peer pressure to have the latest things, or the things that we think will make us look good. We accumulate things we don’t even use that eventually become problematic because we have to find places to keep them.
Think about what might happen if we change our spending habits, if we were content with less. Think of the good we could do by selling things we don’t need, or by donating excess property. There are Biblical reasons to think about readjusting our relationship with money and material things. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we can be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”1 Timothy 6:6-10 Being content with what we have can unburden us from the “tyranny of things”.