How can we learn to be content?

by John Eiselt

In 1998, as a senior in high school, I went on a missions trip to Mexico. What happened when we finished the project stunned us.

Our mission was to construct concrete roofs on houses. The process involved laying roof rails/joists, followed by concrete block that would rest on the rails, followed by liquid concrete that we used to seal cracks and secure the roof.

It was the first time I’d been to Mexico and, to be honest, as a high school student on spring break I was just has interested in the sun and scenery as I was the purpose of the trip.

A lot changed for me that week.

I witnessed poverty like I’d never seen before and built relationships with strangers who became friends, brothers, and sisters over the course of our week together. By the end of the week, they were no longer strangers in poverty, they were brothers and sisters for whom my heart ached.

Despite all of that, we were still unprepared for what we would experience as we blessed the completed home with prayer and celebration.

The leader of our trip offered a house-warming gift, and we prayed aloud together with our hands raised asking God to bless this home and this family.

We said, “Amen,” and after a brief moment of unplanned silence, the mother of the family raised her hand and stepped forward to speak. Speaking in English, she thanked us for our help and hard work, and she expressed her deep gratitude to us and to God for the roof that now covered their home.

She stopped for moment and then raised her head and told us that she prays for us in the United States. She went on to explain the sympathy and concern she had for us because of how much we have that gets in the way of our relationship and dependency on God.

I’ll never forget the look on our leaders face and the feeling inside my own heart as her words offered a perspective that, in a moment, had changed us all.

Their gratitude couldn’t have been greater for the gift they had received. Her gratitude seemed to be based on something greater. That ‘something greater’ offered her a sense of contentment that she knew few of us had ever known, and she was concerned we might never know it.

This weekend, we will continue our series on Finding Contentment in a Discontented World and we’re going to explore how we learn to be content.