Peaceful No Matter WhatSample

Go Against the Flow

Jesus was an “opposites” kind of guy. He regularly said things that you wouldn’t naturally think would be true.

He said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35 NIV)

And, “Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last’” (Mark 9:35 NIV).

And, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25 NIV).

I think that sometimes finding contentment in our circumstances works similarly—when we do the opposite of what is natural when it comes to our discontentment.

Hear me out!

I have a buddy who can get really frustrated when he is driving. He finds himself heating up when the traffic isn’t moving at the speed he thinks it should.

Sometimes, when he catches himself getting angry, he will purposely find a slower-moving vehicle and pull in behind that car. He will force himself to go at that person’s speed. In doing so, he forces himself to slow down, to realize that his hurrying is unnecessary, and to be thankful for the fact that he has a vehicle in the first place and a meaningful place to go.

When he does this, he discovers that his contentment returns rather quickly.

I get frustrated when the traffic lights aren’t synced correctly, and I keep hitting red lights. That is, until I started giving myself points for every red light I hit. Then I would try to get a new high score while driving to work. If the light was red, I was happy because that went towards my tally. If the light was green, I was happy because it was green.

Maybe it sounds silly, but it works. Try it. Embrace the opposite path of your discontentment, and experience more contentment as you do.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me find more delight in my life by challenging the ways I usually think. Just because I have always done something a certain way doesn’t mean it is the right way or that I have to keep doing it that way. Help me take myself a little less seriously and enjoy your gift of life more. Amen.

Reflection: Where do you find yourself getting frustrated the most? Is it possible to think about your situation from a different perspective? How can you turn what frustrates you into something that might even make you smile?