By Kathy Dishongh (click here to find out more about Kathy)

I have iPod envy.  It’s sad… very, very sad.  I just think those charming little devices… in an assortment of bright, beautiful colors… are fabulous.  What’s funny about my “covetous quandary” is that I could actually set aside some money and purchase one of those little beauties, but God has chosen to teach me a lesson in contentment instead.  Isn’t that remarkable about our Father?  He will use common, every day situations to mold us into His image. 

So here is how I am learning contentment in the midst of my iPod envy… it’s not that God doesn’t think I should have one, or that He won’t one day allow me to purchase one.  He is changing my attitude in regards to instant gratification…  the All-American-I-want-it-now-syndrome.  

I love to run/power-walk at night.  It’s a time for me to escape into solitude, breathe in God’s amazing creation all around me, and not to mention, burn off those decadent triple fudge brownies I ate that afternoon.  When I run, I always have praise music playing… not on my fancy-schmancy, bright and brilliant iPod mind you, but on my 8 year old, dingy, faded-red CD walkman!!!!  I must say, I make quite a fashion statement when I run in my neighborhood.  The lovely archaic recording device is of course too large to hook onto anything, so I have to hold it in one hand while running, and the attractive EXTRA-LARGE head set encircles my ears in such a way that resembles Princess Leyah from Star Wars.  I know, I know… you’re a little jealous, right? 

Why do I continue on in my cardio-quest in such a fashion?  Because the CD walkman works fine.  It never skips.  The over-sized headset rests snuggly on my ears.  It plays every song I want to listen to without a hitch.  I am learning to be content with what I have been given for a time.  Even with a situation as simple as a music-device, I want to be free of this sense of self-entitlement that attacks so many areas of our lives.  I want to practice contentment.  If I can accomplish this in a small area of my life, perhaps I will find it easier in a large one.  

God constantly reminds me that it is in the every day, routine tasks of life that He changes us.  That’s why we miss it so often.  We are always looking for the grand… the magnificent moments where He writes His purpose and plans in the sky.  But the God I know speaks to me consistently in a still small voice… in the most ordinary instances of my day.  He wants me to simply take baby-steps of obedience in every circumstance that He brings to my attention. 

Paul eloquently states, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12). 

I want to grasp that.  Apply it.  Put it into action, and live it out.  And I will start with the most minuscule matter that God brings to my attention.  So onward I run, proudly grasping my outdated walkman, thanking God for the blessing of hearing His songs of praise ring in my well-covered ears.  Satisfied. Content.