Do you love yourself? When you look in the mirror, do you smile at the person looking back at you? Does life leave you with a feeling of contentment more often than not?
I have a beautiful photo from my parents’ wedding day that depicts the reflection of my mom looking into the mirror with her mom standing behind her. When I look at that picture, I see contentment. The photo represents a looking back at how far my mom had come paired with a looking forward to the future. The snapshot creates the perfect backdrop for the third beatitude:
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” Matthew 5:5 MSG
The wedding picture symbolizes hope, promise and love. Looking forward makes you aware of the path you will journey from here on out. When we look back, we see the path that shaped us into our current selves. My mom portrays contentment and the peace that comes with it.
Contentment comes in waves as seasons of our life come and go. Motherhood balances between being very satisfying but also very hard. When our kids are little, we pray that we make it to the end of the day in one piece. During this season, contentment looks like surviving. When our kids fly the coop and our nest empties out, we pray the foundation we laid as they were growing up is enough. This season still contains worry, but mostly looks like hope that they will spread their wings and actually fly.
[Tweet “Contentment comes in waves as seasons come and go but is always found in God.”]
I hold a hope that one day I will wake up and be happy with who I am in that moment. When I look into the mirror, I pray the person looking back is at peace. Now please don’t get the idea that I never feel contentment. The opposite is true more often than not. But there are days upon waking, I feel a niggling and hear a whisper that wants to convince me I am not enough and my work is worthless. Have you ever had those thoughts too?
The third beatitude proclaims we are blessed when we are content with who we are–no more and no less. Right now God chose me to live out my purpose as HIs child. I am not identified by the things I have accumulated over the years ( and there are a lot of things) but in the person God formed even before I was born. If tomorrow, I lost everything the blessing is that I still have best thing of all–God!
Today I am praying you know you are the proud owner of everything that cannot be bought. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you smile big because the person looking back at you is “you” and that is okay. As you strive to walk through the week, let God remind you of the beautiful person He created. Allow His truth to affirm the blessing He feels when He calls you “His child”. Take time to thank God for the gift of you.Then hold the truth that He delights in every piece that makes up the child He loves so dearly.
Click here to catch up on all the posts in this series about the Beatitudes.
Learning I am enough!
Thank you for sharing these beautiful truths, this fits into what God has been teaching me lately.
Thank you Angela! God is so good to keep bringing lessons to us that we need to hear over and over. I pray your week is blessed.
I admit I’m still a work in progress in this area, Mary. I, too, hear those whispers trying to convince me I’m not enough and my work is worthless. I have to keep telling myself not to listen to Satan’s lies and replace them with God’s Truth – We are beloved, beautiful, and always enough in Christ Jesus.
I love the photo of your mom and grandma. What a blessing to have old photos like that! But, as you say, even if we lost all our things, we still have the best of all – God Himself! 🙂 Love and hugs!
You are beloved Trudy! I pray we both know that truth and hear it everyday in the whispers.
I love that photo too. I love all that picture represents. It’s my legacy and it shows such beauty and love. I am very blessed.
This is something I’m learning to do too, Mary. It’s crazy that it’s still not fully in place by now … not that I’m saying we’re old or anything! 😉 Thanks for always sharing your heart with such openness and passion for God!
We understand each other well. I pray I am always learning in some way. I do hope that I continue to feel contentment more often than not. I pray you do too. Thank you for always encouraging me so well.
Oh my goodness Mary, you don’t have to apologize for having a ‘down day’. Who can’t relate to that? I appreciate your honesty, making me feel like I’m not alone.
When I look in the past, I often start beating myself up for things I did wrong, wishing I could have done better. But you know, those thoughts just lead to despair…and that’s not a gift from God.
When I see your precious mother’s face, I see such joy! She almost bubbles right off the photo. That’s your past, your legacy, and isn’t it beautiful?
May God continue to give you moments of joy as you look back on your life, and on teh life of your family too,
Ceil
I am learning to be more transparent here in this space. I am thankful that you can relate to this because as a writer you always wonder whether you should hit “publish” or not. I would love to say that contentment is with me everyday but that would not be the truth and actually the days that are harder are the days that God draws me closer. It is His gift to me.
As for the picture of my mom, I love it. She is glowing and it is a testimony to my legacy. Thank you for pointing that out to me. Your prayers are a gift and your wisdom speaks to my soul. Love you friend!
Thank You! There are just days when it seems the evil one creeps in and we can’t find that contentment. I’m so glad that we are called and claimed as beloved children of God. I’m reminded of one of my fave songs “Remind Me Who I Am” by Christian artist Jason Gray. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of who God calls us to be.
Amen. The enemy loves to have a field day with me and I need to stop him dead in his tracks. I love that we are God’s beloved. It fills me with such a warm, fuzzy feeling.
I also love the song you mentioned. It speaks such beautiful truth. So glad to have you here as always.
I find that contentment and a grateful heart go hand in hand. The more I focus on my blessings and acknowledge that they come from the hand of God and then turn to Him with thanksgiving, the more content I am with everything. Myself and my circumstances. That is a state of being that definitely cannot be bought! I’m enjoying this series, Mary! Blessings on your Sabbath, friend.
I love the connection between gratefulness and contentment. I agree that the two together make a formidable pair. When I start my day focusing on my blessings, it always leaves me with an open door to experience the day with a much better attitude. It is a state of being that cannot be bought.
So glad to have you here along for the journey. Blessings!
What a lovely picture to have of you mom, and grandmother. I like how you write that there are days we awake with that niggling of discontentment deriving from the thought so not being enough. I have had many of those moments, and learning know I continually need to feed my mind the truth that I am enough. Thank you for being part of that truth today!
It is one of my favorite pictures. I love the beauty and contentment that I see in that picture. I also agree that the niggling thoughts unfortunately enter way too often into my own thoughts. May we both continue to feed ourselves God’s truth and know that is enough. Love having you here today.
I’m especially enjoying your use of the Message for this study, Mary, because contentment casts an entirely fresh understanding of meekness for me. Having just read Humble Roots, I’m seeing the connection between humbly accepting the given, meekly acknowledging God’s wisdom and His RIGHT to choose for me.
I confess — I struggle with balance here. There are important areas of my life where change needs to happen, and I delay obedience and then am discouraged with ME. Thanks for words today that encourage me to persevere while resting in the sovereignty of God.
Always blessed by your Sunday thoughts.
The Message provides a fresh perspective that is speaking to me right where I am. I am enjoying hearing your connections back to humility. It is keeping me grounded to know how God wants us to walk humbly with Him.
Perseverance is an area that can lead me toward busyness rather than trusting that God will lead me in the right direction. Contentment comes from resting in God and letting Him show us the way. Praying that I continue to seek Him first and let Him do what He does best.
Love how you join me here and share honestly what this looks like for you. Blessings!
This Beatitudes series is such a blessing and timely. God is good!
Thank you for letting me know. I pray that God continues to speak to you as you journey along here.
Mary,
I think so many times I lose my contentment because I am busy looking all around me. I want to understand things so I look to my own understanding instead of trusting God. If I concentrate on just being God’s in the present moment without worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, then I am more likely to be content. If God says I’m okay when I’m just sitting here doing nothing in particular, then I need to be content with that. He doesn’t say He’d love me more if….or He’d love me less if….He just says He loves me.
Sunday blessings to you,
Bev xx
It is easy to get distracted by what is around us and when we can’t have it we don’t feel content. I also look to myself to figure things out even though God already has all of the answers.
Your words about how God loves us sound so simple. He always just loves us no matter what. I love knowing that. Hope your Sunday was blessed.