Apple of Contentment

My favorite children's story is The Apple of Contentment by Howard Pyle.  The main character, Christine, is a lowly goose girl, and she has an apple tree that always has one apple on it.  The apple gives relief from all hunger, thirst, cold, sadness, or whatever is causing uneasiness or displeasure.  Everyone wants the apple, but only Christine is able to pick it from the tree.  And as soon as one apple is taken, another apple appears in its place.

I'm not sure why, as a child, I liked this story.  Perhaps it's because Christine is an underdog, a Cinderella type, who marries the king and lives happily ever after.   

But, as an adult, I read this story and I think about contentment.  

The reality is - I'm not a content person.  I have moments of great joy and peace, like at the birth of each of my sons.

But life is hard, I'm weak, and every day brings struggles, uncertainty, pain, and a sense of wanting.  When I look around at others, I have to conclude that being discontent is just part of our nature.  Like the characters in the story, we're all reaching for "that apple" and can't get it.

And it all started at the beginning, with Adam and Eve in the garden.  They weren't content, and that led to the fall of man into sin.  And man has been longing for real contentment ever since.

But, as the story goes, "to want and to get are very different things."

The world believes, and I also believe, that good relationships and friends, status, success, health, and provision will make me happy and give contentment.  But even as the sinful me thinks this and lives it, I also recognize that it isn't true, that all those things don't ultimately bring peace.  It's a "chasing after the wind."

The truth is, contentment comes from the heart, not from outside circumstances.  And it's given to us; we can't "pick it" like an apple or even choose to be content.

Contentment is a God-given treasure.  And the more we abide in Him, the more He gives us peace for our souls.  

In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him.  Psalm 62:1  

Contentment comes with real forgiveness of sins.  Our God hasn't left us in our sins and misery. 

You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me."  Isaiah 12:1

Contentment comes when I fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

Who is the man who fears the LORD?  Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.  His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.                      Psalm 25:12–13

Contentment comes in loving others as Jesus loves us.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  Colossians 3:14

And when we fall short, when we sin again, He is there to forgive, to love, and to comfort us.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  Psalm 103:2-5