Complacent vs. Content

I’ve never been one to “stop and smell the roses,” as they say. I can look back to last summer and say how nice the roses were then and I can look forward with hopeful expectation about how beautiful the roses will be. But as for the roses I have right now, unfortunately they often get neglected. I’m one of those people who is always working towards the next best thing. Granted, this attitude has brought me lots of wonderful opportunities and experiences, but it has not brought me much satisfaction.
Complacent and content . . . I’ve always gotten these two words confused in how I live my life. Even Merriam-Webster places them very similarly – they both mean satisfied. But one is a good kind of satisfied (content) and one is a lazy kind of satisfied (complacent). As I understand it, content is to be happy with what you have yet still ready to move on when the right time comes and complacent is being comfortable with what you have such that you do not ever want to change for fear of being uncomfortable. So, even with my own personal definitions in place, I still seem to get them mixed up. I end up feeling like if I sit still and stop looking for where I am going to go next, I am not doing what I should be doing.
For the last four or five years I have been focused on one goal – getting through seminary. I had something to look forward to. Something to strive for. Something better on the horizon. Now that I am here, I am finding it hard to be content. I’m not doing what I had planned to do. I am not living where I thought I’d live. And every time I try to make a change I hit a brick wall. I feel God telling me to stay put, sit tight, and enjoy this ride. God is telling me to be content with what he’s given me. God is saying that this is my portion and my cup is indeed full and running over I just need to stop looking back and hoping forward to enjoy right now.
So, this is my wish for you, dear Reader, as well. We are living in an age that tells us to never be content with what we have to always be looking for the new best thing and instead of perfecting our lives we are polluting them with gizmos and goals and things that do not satisfy. Be satisfied. Be blessed. Smell your roses and encourage me to stop and smell mine, too.