Got contentment?

You know, I never really knew how much my dedication to living by my word would be tested this year, but now, only being mid-April I can see that living life while keeping that word in mind is going to be much tougher than I imagined.

One of my first posts to this blog was about this project:

I made a coaster book to celebrate my 2007 word ... contented. The coaster book sits on my desk and I look at it daily. It's a favorite of all my projects and I'm about to add something to a new page. But, as I was flipping through it tonight, I found a quote I put all on its own on one of the first pages:

"There are nine requisites for contented living: HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure; WEALTH enough to support your needs; STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them; GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them; PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished; CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor; LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; FAITH enough to make real the things of God; HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How true! I think I'm lacking a bit in all areas, except maybe love. And, perhaps I have too much charity, but that's a subject for another day. The two areas I'm struggling most with right now, and that I think and pray about a lot, are hope and patience. It is so tough to have hope that God will be faithful, even though he's proven faithful countless times in life. And, it's so difficult to have patience, especially patience to "toil until some good is accomplished." That can sometimes be a good, LONG time in this world of ours. And sometimes we're the least patient and hopeful about our personal self and with our inner struggles. I know I am my own, worst critic. It's really time to work on that... which is another reason I chose contented for 2007.

Perhaps I don't have a point here, but this was just something I was thinking about and that I thought I'd share. We're on this journey side-by-side... tonight I'll pray for more hope and patience. What will you work on? What will you pray for help with today? How can you be more contented -- more satisfied with all things in life?