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You are here: Home / Family / beat the blahs / Learning contentment in the cold

Learning contentment in the cold

February 13, 2014 by Amelia

[pinit]
present

I rub my hands together hoping the friction will warm them. The thermostat blinks 70, but I’m freezing.The teakettle heats on a red burner. I wait for the whistle to call me over for a cup of tea. Or hot chocolate. Or maybe just to fill a mug with nothing but hot water. More than a drink, I crave warmth to curl my fingers around.

I’m weary. Of being cold. Of ice. Of snow. Of having so much trouble driving.

It’s been so long since I’ve been warm, I barely remember what it feels like to walk outside and sweat, to hold a glass of water dripping with condensation, to feel cheeks turn pink under the sun.

Little Miss said the other day, “Come summer, we’ll probably miss these days!” Then she paused, grinned and said, “Maybe not.”

She nailed the issue.

Whatever season we’re in, we seem to have trouble being content.

In winter there’s always a better, warmer, sunnier, happier place.  In the summer there’s always a better, cooler, shadier, happier place.

When your children are small, you want them to be big so they can do things on their own. When they’re big you wish they were small and needed you more.

When you’re young, you wish you were older so you could have the freedom to be on your own. When you’re old, you wish you were young so Mom & Dad could just take care everything.

In the starter job you wish you could move up the ladder for more pay and responsibility. Up the ladder you long for the days of less responsibility when you just came to work and didn’t take it home with you.

The trouble is, when we get to that better future we imagined, we take ourselves with us. (For a great discussion on contentment, check out the new book Satisfied by Jeff Manion, and catch his sermon series here.)

How do we take a better, more content self to the future?

Learning to be content in the present. To be grateful for things that are unique to this season and not conducive in the next.

So I focus on,

Hands wrapped around warm mugs.
Snuggling under blankets with electrified hair.
Even children home on endless snow days asking for help with messy craft projects and fort building.

I vow not to wish away the present for an elusive future that also will not be perfect.

Tell me, what is helping you be content in this season? Wherever you live, what are you embracing and relishing about this fleeting season of life?

Tweetables:
[tweetherder]Don’t wish away the present for an imperfect and elusive future. [/tweetherder]

[tweetherder]How can you practice contentment in the dead of winter?[/tweetherder]

*Photo by Kedron, taken over Lake Michigan….brrr!!!

Filed Under: beat the blahs, faith in action Tagged With: contentment, encouragement, faith, winter

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa says

    February 13, 2014 at 7:23 pm

    That is so true the future will not be perfect either. I need to read Satisfied, its on my list. Thank you for this truth.

    • Amelia says

      February 13, 2014 at 9:25 pm

      You will enjoy it Lisa!!

  2. Jenn Hand says

    February 13, 2014 at 8:55 pm

    love this. what a great perspective. Love love reading your wriitngs!

    • Amelia says

      February 13, 2014 at 9:25 pm

      Jenn you are be of he most joyful people I’ve ever met! Your snow pictures have made me smile the past few days!

  3. Jenn Hand says

    February 13, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    Lol.. and Amelia I am grinning because I tweated your link and my friend Judd that was on this season’s big brother favorited it so there is no telling who that sends to your blog 🙂

    • Amelia says

      February 13, 2014 at 9:26 pm

      Lol!! That’s awesome!

  4. Beth VN says

    February 14, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    Love this one! A great reminder to embrace the current and be content. I’m working on that throughout this winter. LOVE your blogs. Please keep them coming!

    • Amelia says

      February 14, 2014 at 6:17 pm

      Oh Beth, it’s so great to hear from you! Thank you for the encouragement. I think 49 of the 50 states are learning this lesson this year. (Silly Florida, they don’t know what they’re missing!)

  5. Amy L. Sullivan says

    February 16, 2014 at 7:25 am

    Amelia,
    Guilty, guilty, guilty. The now may not be what I want, and therefore, I look to the future because whatever is ahead of us HAS to be better, right? Ugh. Yep. I live it.

    I don’t struggle with contentment with belongings, but with circumstances. Doing my best to live in the now, but I need reminder after reminder.

    • Amelia says

      February 17, 2014 at 8:34 pm

      I hear you Amy! My contentment issues usually don’t revolve around “stuff” either but rather circumstances.

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