The Joy of Knowing Where You Are
And the harvest of contentment
Knowing where you are is a practice of awareness. It entails understanding where God has you and taking joy in that place.
God has placed us exactly where we are for a reason that is often not known to us.
God brings along people to remind us where we are. His plan is always in action, and we are a part of it. We strive to remember this very fact, but we tend to forget or neglect this fact. Discontentment, idolatry, and pride grow up like weeds in the heart and threaten to choke out the good seeds that have been planted.
The Story
When I was young, maybe 10 or 11, I lived in Santiago, Chile. My family and I were missionaries to the capital of Chile, which harbored nearly 6 million people at the time. One year, we got a mission team from our home church. It was a wonderful time seeing all of the familiar faces. I think they were there for about a week or two.
The team stayed in a hotel during the trip. And my older brother got to sleep with them on several different nights. Some of his friends came on this trip, and like any good younger brother, I wanted to spend the night with them, too. But, I was not able to. I don’t remember the exact reason for being unable to do so the whole time they were with us. It could have been I was too young or that they were really more of my brother’s friends than mine. I don’t remember.
However, near the very end of the trip, I got to stay the night in the hotel in one of the guy's suites. I was ecstatic. This was cool. Staying in a hotel on the 30th floor or something crazy like that, I could see the millions of city lights. But, to my sudden and utter dismay, I was relegated to the living room couch. My brother and his friends got to stay in another room in the suite. The whole reason I wanted to stay in the hotel was to be with the cool kids.
Needless to say, I was devastated, insulted, crushed… The whole night was ruined. I was sentenced to solitary confinement on the couch, where I was destined to hear the laughing and carousing of my brother and his friends in the other room. I walked out on the balcony to sulk and mope.
I wasn’t out there very long when a guy from the mission team came out. David was his name. He probably was around 18 at the time. We stood in silence for a minute before he spoke.
“Man, it must be so awesome to be living here. I mean, look at this view.”
The view was pretty amazing. All the city lights were shimmering in the night like a million distant candles. The hum and drum of the city below us and the cool night air did make you pause and appreciate everything. But I didn’t. I was holding on to my busted pride like a toddler to a sucker.
He spoke again.
“Isn’t God amazing?”
And then he went back inside. I was left standing there, alone, with my thoughts and wounded pride. But something else came over me. Shame. Shame because I was being selfish all night long in thinking that I deserved more, something better. Not only should I get to stay the night with the mission team, but I should get to stay in the room with all the cool kids who were much older than I was. And not for one night, but for multiple nights.
At that moment, I realized how blessed I was. I was in Santiago, Chile. Me, a small kid from an even smaller town in Oklahoma. Somehow, I am spending the night in a massive hotel with other people from my own small Oklahoman town. Crazy. God really showed himself in all his mysterious-plan-working grandeur that night. I was able to catch a glimpse of the plan that I was a part of. God is good.
I went inside and went to sleep. I think I even slept well.
Application
I have been able to experience some incredible things during my time in Chile. And reflecting on this memory has brought up a few points of application that I would like to make.
Discontentment is being unaware of where God has you.
When we are discontent, we either forget God or ignore God. This discontentment is essentially being unaware of God’s plan and deciding to live for yourself. I only thought of myself that night and that whole week. Because my goal the entire time the mission team was in country was to spend the night in the hotel with the cool kids.
I chose to be discontent, to reject the knowledge of God and his plan that he was actively working in my life, the life of my family, the mission team, and everyone we were working with those two weeks. In this discontentment, I discarded joy in lasting treasure for “joy” in lackluster trinkets.
Contentment brings joy
When David came onto the balcony and spoke to me, he didn’t correct or call me out. I don’t know if he knew how I was feeling. Though I am sure, it was written all over me. He spoke the truth. He was sharing his contentment and his joy with me. God is amazing. It was crazy that we are up here beholding this view. His joy was infectious.
When I surrendered my pride and chose to be content, God’s joy filled me up. It brings an awareness that is unique and lasting. As we cultivate contentment, it grows and matures, when it reaches maturity, we reap a harvest of joy. That joy sustains us. I believe it is the fruit of contentment. And we can feast on it.
Feasting on Joy
Knowing where you are is a practice of awareness. It entails understanding where God has you and taking joy in that place. When we are aware that God is sovereign and active, we are seeing the real real. We are behold reality as it really is. The blindfolds and walls that we build around ourselves crumble at the gracious majestic reality of God. And joy begins to shine its glorious light.
The Spirit of God empowers us to be content, and he gives the growth of the fruit of joy in us. When contentment matures, it bears the fruit of joy. Let us feast on that joy. Cultivate contentment in your life. Seek to see that God is active and moving in your life and the lives of those around you. Be aware, see the true, the good, and the beautiful that is God at work.
If you want to read further on what it means to be aware. check out this post!
Workbox 09: Awareness
Welcome back to The Workbox! Our mission is to provide actionable, engaging, and reflective tools in a virtual toolbox. Every post that I write is divided into one of these three categories.If you would like to check out previous ones (which I recommend) you can do so below.
