Gratitude II

Since one of my new approaches to the new year is to be outwardly grateful more on a daily basis, I love that this came in my email today......a huge part of gratitude is learning to be content with what you have. Such a huge part of our society spends a lot of time telling us what we *should* want - bigger house, fancier cars, better job, more money, skinny butt - most unrealistically unattainable for most folks. So over the next few days I am going to share each of the four lessons.....if there is one thing that I have learned in my more mature years is that things are rarely as they seem in most *perfect* people's world. Lessons in Contentment by Rick Warren I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11 (NIV) *** *** *** *** Here are four steps to develop contentment in your life. 1. Stop comparing yourself to others. When you compare your life with someone else’s, the only place it can lead is toward discontentment. There will always be people who appear to be better off than you, but you don’t know their real circumstances. I recall counseling a husband many years ago, and he said he wished his wife could be more like so-and-so, and he named a woman in our congregation. What he didn’t know is that the woman was a functioning alcoholic causing incredible heartache and stress for her family and for her husband. That’s why the Bible teaches it is unwise to compare (2 Corinthians 10:12). Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers