I've not much been one for 'going to church' of late. In fact, more than of late..I stepped out of church in a fairly deliberate way about two years ago, having working in ministry and frankly getting a bit over it all. Not to say I was over God, oh no...but it's a bit of a love hate relationship, whereby fellowship (lets see how much Christianese I can squeeze into one post....) was defined by the regular get togethers I had with like minded friends, and prayer seems to be mainly comprised of me ranting and a somewhat stony silence on God's behalf.
That said, I've done my best to maintain at least a distant relationship with Himself, by way of funerals, Christmas services, and children's bedtime prayers. So it has been quite a change to discover myself quite by chance (or is it.....) back in the company of some of the people I shared church/youth group/bible study/crushes/slightly recalcitrant teen behaviour with. I even, hold on to your seat, decided to attend church on a Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago - and actually I have to say I rather enjoyed it. Great music, a challenging and thought provoking sermon by a preacher I almost agreed with, friendly people and a comfy chair. What more could I ask for!?
I would have said nothing. And its said that God doesn't give you any more than you can cope with after all.
But everything changes and nothing stays the same. I have written before about how God likes to talk to me in Hollywood letters. I'm guessing it's because it takes something that big, at least in my minds eye, to get my attention. I've had all kinds of words, and almost always I miss the cue, and cannot fathom why a particular word keeps popping up everywhere. And this year has been no exception. I was presented with 'content' this time. But what did it mean? Was I content? Was I being asked to provide content? Was I destined for something contentious?
Who knows....but what I do know is that everything that has changed, or come into my life in the past couple of months - in every aspect - has an underlying message: I need to carefully examine the CONTENT, and I need to be satisfied that the new thing, the changed thing, still allows me to be CONTENT. Which is not to say that 'stuff' will make me content, nor that I need more 'content' to be content! But it certainly has made me stop and think about the things that really matter - and what it is that makes me rest easy each night.
How is your content?
Are you content?
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