Tag Archives: temporary troubles

May I please have…more?

 

In the movie version of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, young Oliver finds himself enslaved in a London workhouse with little to eat. He approaches the workhouse supervisor and says, “Please sir, may I have…more?”

 

Who could fault the nearly starving young boy, new to his oppressive surroundings, and wanting more?

 

Switch scenes to a young country girl who moved to the city to find new adventure: “I’ve always wanted…more.” Her friend twinkled his eyes and responds, “It’s a wonderful feeling . . . more!”

 

We all want more. Adam and Eve had it all. Yet they wanted more. The Israelites were hungry in the desert but when God gave them more food than they could eat, but they wanted more. I remember in the opening to one wage negotiation the question was posed, “What do you want?” The answer was simply stated: “We want MORE.”

 

We want more money, more clothes, more food, more service, more house, more possessions, more friends, more protection, more privacy, more consideration, more respect, more love, and in the end, everyone wants – more time.

 

What do you want more of? It’s okay to say it. God already knows the desires of your heart and mine. In fact, He knows us better than we know ourselves. . . not only WHAT we want but also WHY we want it. He knows if we just had ‘this’ or more of ‘that’ we’d THINK we’d be happy.

 

There is no contentment to be found in wanting more when you have nothing. But there also is no contentment in having our needs met and still wanting more. The thirst for ‘more’ is insatiable.

 

So how do we find the secret of contentment? A friend reminded me recently, it is not so much ‘found’ but ‘learned.’ Paul writes, “I have learned the secret of being content.”

 

Contentment comes from:
Learning to give thanks for what we have: It is a daily practice, repeated over and over until it becomes habit and the habit becomes ingrained in our character.

 

Learning that our treasures and troubles are temporary: We think we have all the time in the world to build and acquire and accomplish. And we think our troubles will weigh on forever. But all we really have is today.

 

Learning to decide what to do with the time we have: The great line from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings sums it well: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world…besides the will of evil.”

 

Those ‘other forces’ are the forces of God’s power and goodness speaking great satisfaction to our hearts. There is one thing, that the more you have of it, the more content you will be. Having more of God and Him having more of you.

 

Go ahead and quench your thirst with more of Him! It begins by shutting down the busyness of your activities and stepping into His presence.