Contentment? Boundaries? Yes!

...I rejoice that things are as they are...

(T.S. Eliot)

Most years I choose a word for the year, something that I want to be a theme word that I can come back to and grow in.  (Some years this works out more clearly than others.)

Last year my word was contentment, but I was telling a friend the other day that it probably should have been boundaries, since it feels like 2015 was a year of learning about how to set boundaries on time and commitments, how to say no thoughtfully so that I could say yes intentionally.

The two things aren't so dissimilar, though, and the more I thought about it, they went together well.  As I learned to appreciate the boundaries set by being human and having finite time to work with, and only being able to be in one place at a time -- and learned to thank God for that, rather than constantly wishing for more -- I have learned contentment.  Not, by any means, perfectly.





















But it is a blessing to see how a growing appreciation for the boundaries that I can live well within -- the natural limitations set by being a person and by the personality that I have and by the circumstances of my life -- has brought contentment with it.

So there it is: the curious thought that boundaries and contentment seem to go together quite neatly.





















Or, in David's words:

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; 
You hold my lot.
Surely the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance!
(Psalm 16:5-6)