Discontent - and its message.

Have you ever been discontented with your life? I have. And I have also sown it in the lives of others, causing them to question their goals and failures. It is unsettling, to be sure. But it is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, discontent is only bad when it is unrealistic, or when peace is the prime goal of our lives, peace at any cost. But that kind of peace is nothing but lethargy.

We are pilgrims, and the pilgrim is not out for a lasting city here and now. And so when we feel discontented, we should examine the cause, to see if perhaps God is using it to nudge us forward, keeping us on that journey, not letting us get too settled into this life in which we are, after all, only pilgrims. Discontent can be God's way of not letting us settling for less when more is just around the corner.

I think we forget that the markers of a great soul is discontentment with the "norm." Believing there is more, searching for it, pondering where the road should lead or how to get there, that is major discontent, and making that journey results in major satisfaction and in the end, pure joy.

And now, I hope I've sown some seeds of discontent in your own heart and soul.