Are you Discontent? or Do you suffer from Discontentment?

dis·con·tent

   [dis-kuhn-tent]

adjective

1.

not content; dissatisfied; discontented.

noun

2.

Also, dis·con·tent·ment. lack of content; dissatisfaction.

3.

a restless desire or craving for something one does not have.

4.

a malcontent.

For a few weeks now, this word has weighed heavily on my mind.  How many of us are discontent in our lives?  Do we even realize it?  Do we wake up happy to be alive?  Thank God for the day? Or do we moan and groan and stomp off to the shower dreading the day before it has even started?  

Someone brought this word to my attention and I guess I had never really thought about the true meaning of the word before.  As you see above, it can be used as an adjective as well as a noun.  

I tend to think of this word as DISCONTENTMENT... the noun.  A physical word - an object.  I tend to have a restless desire or craving for something I do not have - hence - discontentment.  

What about you?  Do you have everything in work you desire? How about your personal relationships?  What about your friendships?  How about your relationship with yourself or with God?  Do you desire things in these relationships that you don't have?  We often don't look at our relationships carefully enough.  We accept them for what they are and move on. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad.  I think it can be good to just accept people for what they are when you love them.  I think this is the most used method in life.  Probably the most Christian like.  When do we stop, though, and really evaluate our own life and say "it's just not enough".  I'm not talking about just personal stuff.  Maybe it's your job.  Maybe it's your friends who are emotional vampires - the people in our lives that suck the life out of us.  

I started seeing what was sucking the life out of me recently, but in addition to that, realized that perhaps I was sucking the life out of some of my friends as well.  I realized that discontentment had become a habit.  Happy to whine to people about my misery instead of taking the perpetual "bull by its horns" and do something about my situation!  So I chose to start doing something about my "discontentment" and start making strides in doing things in life that make me happy.  I choose to wake each day and thank God for the new day instead of dreading what is to come before it comes.

Don't let habits rule your life.  Look at your life and realize that habits can be broken and make adjustments.  Realizing them is eye awakening.  Make notes to yourself to think differently if you find yourself discontent about things.  Discontent with your job? Work hard to get a promotion to get away from that boss you hate so much then!  Find a new job!  Work for yourself!  Do it positively though!  You CAN change things in your life.  Don't settle.  Life is not written in stone.  It changes daily.  You can make it change.