Journey to Contentment

Yes, friends, I have issues with being content. Especially at the place I am right now, I am really having a tough time. A friend of mine recommended a book to me, "Calm My Anxious Heart". I started reading it today and have decided that I'm going to lead a book study this semester on it. I wanted to share a story within the book that got my attention today. Here is goes:

"The following story of two monks helped me to put my control versus God's control into perspective."


"I need oil, said an ancient monk, so he planted an olive sapling. "Lord," he prayed, "it needs rain that its tender roots may drink and swell. Send gentle showers." And the Lord sent gentle showers. "Lord," prayed the monk, "my tree needs sun. Send sun, I pray thee," And the sun shone, gilding the dripping clouds. "Now frost, my Lord, to brace its tissues," cried the monk. And behold, the little tree stood sparkling with frost, but at the evening it died.
Then the monk sought the cell of a brother monk, and told his strange experience. "I, too, planted a little tree," he said, "and see! It thrives well. But I entrust my tree to its God. He who made it knows better what it needs than a man like me. I laid no condition. I fixed not ways nor means. 'Lord send what it needs,' I prayed, 'storm, or sunshine, wind, rain, or frost. Thou hast made it and Thou dost know.'"

Bottom line: We need to release control if we are ever going to live in contentment or freedom! Trust God with everything.... He created it and longs to be our Provider and everything we need!

Lots of love -

KB