We all feel dissatisfied with our lives at times for no apparent reason.
We may look around, seeking a cause, and succeed in blaming some circumstance or person in our lives, but the problem isn't our circumstances or other people.
The cause of our discontentment is often not something particular about us.
It usually isn't that we need to work harder, get more exercise, earn more money, spend more time with our family, move to a different city, or be more charitable. It isn't that we need to break a bad habit or adopt a good one, even though these may all be good ideas.
The cause of our discontentment is that we know we aren't who we should be - in some more fundamental way - and we don't seem to be able to do anything about it.
We get angry or feel hurt when we know we shouldn't. We say things that we wish we hadn't. We do things that we know are wrong, and don't do things that we know we should. We are all in this state to some extent.
We feel discontent with ourselves because we know that we're less than we could be, but we don't know what we should be doing about it, if anything.
Should I just shrug it off, recognizing that I'm only human? Should I try harder to be better? You're likely to choose one option or the other most of the time, depending on your personality. It doesn't matter which you choose; neither solves the problem.
We can't get rid of the unease, and we can't change ourselves much. Something should be going on in our lives that isn't.
We are here for a purpose. If we feel discontented, it is because our lives are not oriented around that purpose. We're off track, and we know it.
I believe that our purpose is to get reconnected to God and then live the life that He has for each of us.
God has a different life prepared for each person. He doesn't want us to all be the same, but His life for us is richer and fuller than the one we work out on our own. It uses our talents more fully and brings more good to us and those around us.
Think of everything that you've ever enjoyed with a really good enjoyment: the beautiful, fascinating, good, and true. God's life for you includes all of that and more.
I don't think that it's possible to be satisfied with life without being connected to God. He's what's missing.
When we're connected to God, we're participants in real living. Without Him, we live on the border of our own lives, waiting for something that is always just out of reach.
Read on . . .