Reflection
During this Lent we may want to examine our areas of discontent. Discontent is a restless longing for what we do not have. It sours our spirits. Let’s consider the things we have for which we can be grateful. Gratitude makes us thankful and appreciative for what we have. It sweetens our dispositions and makes what we have enough. Gratitude enables us to see the goodness in our lives and results in feelings of wellbeing and peace of heart. It expands our vision to what is important and helps us to see through the causes of our discontent.
Prayer
Create in me a grateful heart, O God!
Action
I will examine any causes I have of discontent. How are these offset by the things for which I should be grateful?
Suggested Reading
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner?”
Luke 17:11-19
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,
if it be received with thanksgiving:
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
I Timothy 4.4-5
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.
St. Ambrose
Remember the past with gratitude. Live the present with enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence.
John Paul II
Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.
David Steindl-Rast
Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.
Alfred Painter
Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
Benjamin Franklin
Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.
Unknown Source
When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, “Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.”
Dalai Lama
There is nothing so bad that whining won’t make it worse.
Jeffery R Holland