When I say content, I don’t mean lukewarm, wishy-washy, apathetic, indifferent, impassive, or other uninspiring words like this.

I mean content as in deep peace that this (whatever this is) is enough. That I am enough. And this is good.

When I say content, I don’t mean to not have goals or to not make plans.

I mean content as in I know where my life is going because I do have goals and I understand that time is also a part of those goals and because I am enough I can allow time to play the part that time is required to play.

Blessed are the content, for they shall stop the chaos of striving.

Because those who are not content are living their lives out of scarcity.

Scarcity is waking up in the morning and already feeling like you have let down those you love before you even get out of bed.

Scarcity is spending your credit cards over the limit so you can have all those Christmas gifts under the tree. Which you then post on Facebook and Instagram so you can feel like a good parent. Or worse—you really purchased those gifts to fit in with your peers, or to impress your peers, which is more important to you than your parenting.

Scarcity is receiving all of those beautiful Christmas cards with those beautiful Christmas photos and reading beautiful Christmas letters and wondering why your life did not turn out as beautiful.

We believe incorrectly that the opposite of scarcity is abundance. Thus the continual cycle of buying more, eating more, exercising more, posting more, etc. This is exhausting, isn’t it?

It is exhausting and the process is actually holding you back from entering into a life where you are free to love and be loved. By believing that more will solve your feelings of scarcity, you continue to enslave yourself by working ever harder against an unrealistic ideal so that you will achieve “more”–further deepening your “never enough” mad cycle.

Blessed are the content, for they shall stop the chaos of striving (which affects everyone around them).

The people who love you will want to dwell in your peace of this contentedness. It is endearing. It is attractive. Instead, your people are exhausted by you as you so desire to love and be loved.

Blessed are the content, for they shall stop the chaos of striving (and fear loses control over your life).

Scarcity is fear disguised by your supposed control. The fear that you think helps you keep your life in control but really keeps you out of vulnerability and back into that exhaustion you wake up with. Aren’t you tired? Scarcity is the engine that runs your life, sets your goals, and exhausts you as you strive to accomplish them now.

Blessed are the content, for they shall stop the chaos of striving (and the fear of “am I enough?”).

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5.

The beginning of this verse is quoted a lot, often misquoted. It is often wrongly quoted as “money is the root of all evil.” The Bible clearly says it is the love of money. This love of money feeds strongly into your scarcity. You are bound by the driving thought, “If only I could have that new outfit, that new couch, that new car, that new house, then I will be happy and content.” But you never really are. It is a mad cycle.

The second part of this verse is also quoted a lot. It is beautiful for God clearly and “blackly-and-whitely” says, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

So let’s put this verse correctly together. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

When you can live your life with contentedness, you will find God’s hand in your life. His hand that is always there. But when you are living in scarcity you are always striving to fill that hole. You are always hustling and planning and controlling. And you are never able to hear the truth that God says to you…

You are enough.

Blessed are the content, for they shall stop the chaos of striving (and realize how God has never left you).

God is everywhere this Christmas season because every Christmas story, even those with Santa, is about how something supernatural blesses our lives and changes our circumstances. This is the story of Jesus coming to us with skin-on.

You are seen. You are enough. You are found. You are loved.

Merry Christmas.