Finding Contentment – Sunday, September 30, 1984
In “The Prayer Perfect,” just sung by the Choir, the supplicant asks the Lord to share with all the needy his own vast treasure of content. We know no more of this person than this. We do not know if he is wealthy or powerful, inhabitant of castle or hovel. It matters not. His sense of well-being flows from some inner spring, deep and consistent and sure, independent of circumstance.
A vast treasure of content is what we all want. In a world where we often feel isolated, rootless and insecure, we long for those times of joy, but too often they fall through our fingers. We think that when something changes, we will be happy. When circumstances are more pleasing, when the work is done or the bills are paid, then our well-being will be assured.
It is not so. An ancient scripture notes that, even after we pass beyond this life, “He that is happy shall be happy still, and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.”1 Even the perfect circumstances of heaven could not guarantee contentment if we hadn’t learned the an first in our soul.
It begins with the understanding that we are not victims of people or events too big for us, but agents. Free agents unto ourselves. If our life is color1ess or stagnant, we have determined it to be so. We build our own restrictions, limit our freedom with our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. When we are miserable, it is often because we have let self-discipline slip away, have fallen prey to our own anger or self-pity, have been caught in the corner by our ignorance.
“The one principle of hell,” said George MacDonald, “is ‘I am my own’.”2
And even those times that confront us with unmistakable hardship, we determine how we will respond. We move ahead to make changes where possible or, too agonized to move, stand paralyzed in our place.
But a fresh breeze blows through our souls the day we decide to assume responsibility for ourselves. When we finally stop blaming others for our personal disorder, then we can move ahead toward the inner wholeness that is joy.
The weakness that makes us feel unworthy—we begin to work on. The fear that keeps us cowering—we replace with faith. And, if it sounds like too big a task, we have to ask ourselves. “If not now, when?” Since we never can escape ourselves, it is time we became, not our own curse, but our best blessing.
1 Book of Mormon, Mormon 9”14
2 As Quoted in Lewis, C.S., Surprised by Joy, Fontana Books
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September 30, 1984
Broadcast Number 2,876