Many of us are in search of happiness, fulfillment, and contentment in life. Eventually, this satisfaction turns itself into false contentment. A young girl a million miles in a remote village is ostracized by her own family and community, and her leg is chained to a post. No matter the weather condition outside, no matter what sickness she may contract, she is chained to the post, day and night. She is seen as an outcast because she is believed to be mentally unstable. How can she find contentment in such conditions? Now, in a familiar, well-established country, there is another young girl, sitting in her room, held captive by her self-image of not being smart enough, not being pretty enough, and not having the talent and skills to compete in this world. She feels her family, community, and society itself have abandon her. She feels life is unfair. How is this young girl able to find contentment? Ironically, even though both girls are from two different backgrounds, the first is physically chained and the second is mentally chained; they both have one thing in common: they can both find contentment.
As humans, we are given a unique aspect that makes us different and unique from all other living beings. It is not our personalities or physical skills that separate us from the animal world, but it is the mere fact that we can reason and make decisions. When we can see that we have this endowment from God, we become disconnected from the world and start to sow seeds of value, but if we do not separate from the world and connect with God, we trample our values and those of others. (BFG: 46 Contentment When the world is right with God, Horses retire to haul fertilizer on the fields, when the world is separate from God, Horses trample in the fields equipped for the calvary.)
When our ability to reason and make decisions are taken away, we feel chained physically and mentally. In the situation of the first young girl, she has no liberty and has no freedom since she lives in an impoverished country with no democracy. While the second young girl has both liberty and freedom, her inability to reason and think logically causes her freedom to be stumped.
How then are both girls in different parts of the world find true contentment? It is by first removing the desire to want liberty and freedom. Once you remove that desire, they can see things as they are and not as they should or ought to be. Second, contentment involves a kind of fulfillment in life. Our inner being must be full of something and filled to the rim with that something for contentment to exist and be lasting. This something is love and understanding of our existence. It is by the love of someone greater than us, the knowledge that we were created in an image to someone that “is” love; there is no way that we cannot be “full” of love itself and be “filled with love. By this very circular nature of the working of God, our ability to understand God, being created by God, we begin to understand that we have the freedom to choose to not be reactive in our response to things outside our control. This makes life fulfilling and makes us content. It is our choice to be proactive that opens the door to contentment. God gives us the freedom to choose if we live according to his spirit or by the spirit of this world.
Meditate
Bridging the Gap: Speaking a universal language
It is said that prayers are answered in some ways but not always in the way we want them to. As long as we continue to seek God, our prayers will eventually be answered. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Luke 11:9)
Meditate
Awareness, understanding, interior freedom
Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me
Remember, God is love, light, and life so only that which has life can give life. Each day in our own way, we are given many challenges, physical, mental and emotional. Knowing how to react to them with grace and patience helps nurture and fuel our good habits, which in turn develops our values and virtues. Like the beloved St. Therese of Lisieux’s life, she would ascend in virtue instead of descending by using the smallness and limitations of her circumstances as grounds for joy, rather than for discouragement “To limit your desires and your hopes is to misunderstand God’s infinite goodness!”
As you watch and listen to this uplifting song, Everything will be alright, imagine the big role you play in God’s master plan. Be in harmony with God’s spirit so you can be drawn into his love of mercy and forgiveness.
Prayers
May you be granted the graces to sit in solitude and know that everything will be alright. God always holds the whole world in his hand. He will always keep you and bless you.
To remember what we learned, we must always write it, share it and teach it to someone else, so it becomes concrete in us.
Journal Tips: What things are causing you to feel chained and held captive? Sit silently for 10-15 minutes to meditate and reflect. Imagine you are in a beautiful garden filled with different hues and shades of colors and magnificent variations of flowers, both small and large. The enticing smell and aroma that fills the air. Now imagine yourself as one of the flowers and how you are part of this enchanting scene. No matter how small or helpless you may feel, you contribute to a much bigger design/garden than what you are able to see with the human eyes. Let God be your vision to see the loveliness of Spring and his grand design for you.
“If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”- St. Therese of Lisieux.
Northernstar Journal
YOU become what you were meant to become and can do the impossible, because impossible is really saying "I'M POSSIBLE"