What is the difference between comfort and contentment, and what does it mean for our faith?
Comfort - a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint
Content - a state of peaceful happiness
Which of those would you prefer? A state of physical ease or of peaceful happiness? The first sounds great, until you give it some thought - physical ease. Peaceful happiness, as a bloke sounds a bit loose, kind of bath and candles territory, but ultimately isn't this what we are all after? Not baths with candles but happiness.
I love the addition of peaceful to happiness, it gives the impression this happiness didn't come at another's expense, as oppose to stolen happiness, warlike happiness, hostile happiness or disturbed happiness. Yet maybe these are forms of happiness people choose in order to achieve both comfort and happiness. I don't believe comfort and contentment go together, they are two opposing forces. Comfort is about the physical, contentment is about the soul.
Comfort is about setting a goal of what would make you happy, a job, a house, a family, money, contentment is being happy with what you have no matter what is is. The greatest contentment comes with God, when you can say that he is enough for you, if you lost all else, like Job, he is enough.
When we have this attitude, it doesn't matter where we go, or what we have, we can experience an inner experience that is greater than physical comfort. It's the difference between the warmth of a snug bed and hot tea, and the inner warmth of acceptance and love.
Too often our world makes life about what we can acquire, when maybe it is a case of what can we bring? My favourite quote is from Gandhi, the legendary Indian who said "Be the change you want to see in the world". To do so, we often have to move out of our comfort zone, leave our home comforts behind, and pursue adventure. As the picture above states often when we move out of our comfort zone , it is there the magic happens (figuratively speaking).
Recently I have damaged my ankle, pretty badly. For a month comfort was well and truly out of the question. Yet contentment was still within my grasp. The things we think make us happy, and content, are often much more about our comfort than they are anything else. It is in these times when things are hard, and other things are unreachable or unachievable, we realise the things we are truly grateful for, the things that really matter. Like our wife, food, friends, freedom.
When all of our comfort is taken away, we can recognise that an inward contentment is worth so much more, yet can contain so much less. Comfort requires stuff and always needs more, contentment requires us. Comfort is about bed, money, luxury, contentment is about us and God. When we step out of comfort we find God. I've found he's really all we need.
Comfort - a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint
Content - a state of peaceful happiness
Which of those would you prefer? A state of physical ease or of peaceful happiness? The first sounds great, until you give it some thought - physical ease. Peaceful happiness, as a bloke sounds a bit loose, kind of bath and candles territory, but ultimately isn't this what we are all after? Not baths with candles but happiness.
I love the addition of peaceful to happiness, it gives the impression this happiness didn't come at another's expense, as oppose to stolen happiness, warlike happiness, hostile happiness or disturbed happiness. Yet maybe these are forms of happiness people choose in order to achieve both comfort and happiness. I don't believe comfort and contentment go together, they are two opposing forces. Comfort is about the physical, contentment is about the soul.
Comfort is about setting a goal of what would make you happy, a job, a house, a family, money, contentment is being happy with what you have no matter what is is. The greatest contentment comes with God, when you can say that he is enough for you, if you lost all else, like Job, he is enough.
When we have this attitude, it doesn't matter where we go, or what we have, we can experience an inner experience that is greater than physical comfort. It's the difference between the warmth of a snug bed and hot tea, and the inner warmth of acceptance and love.
Too often our world makes life about what we can acquire, when maybe it is a case of what can we bring? My favourite quote is from Gandhi, the legendary Indian who said "Be the change you want to see in the world". To do so, we often have to move out of our comfort zone, leave our home comforts behind, and pursue adventure. As the picture above states often when we move out of our comfort zone , it is there the magic happens (figuratively speaking).
Recently I have damaged my ankle, pretty badly. For a month comfort was well and truly out of the question. Yet contentment was still within my grasp. The things we think make us happy, and content, are often much more about our comfort than they are anything else. It is in these times when things are hard, and other things are unreachable or unachievable, we realise the things we are truly grateful for, the things that really matter. Like our wife, food, friends, freedom.
When all of our comfort is taken away, we can recognise that an inward contentment is worth so much more, yet can contain so much less. Comfort requires stuff and always needs more, contentment requires us. Comfort is about bed, money, luxury, contentment is about us and God. When we step out of comfort we find God. I've found he's really all we need.
Comments
Post a Comment