Archives for May 2008

Eve-itis: A Lesson in Contentment

When my grandpa was sick last year I went home to spend some time with him. It was one of the hardest but best things I’ve ever done. I was able to sit with him, hold his hand, feed him, help with his blood level testings, and I especially loved being there to tuck him into bed every night. It was incredibly special to be able to help make his experience better in some way.

Every day, he would ask someone to sit with him to read him something from the bible. And as my niece was reading to him one day, I heard him reciting along from memory. Every night when we put him into his bed, we all gathered around him and took turns praying, he included.  He was positive, even funny at times, and when he felt overcome with emotion he allowed the tears to fall, unashamed.

About a week after I got home, he passed away.  But that last week I spent with him changed my life.  I was amazed that every single day he lived was undeniably for the Lord.  He never missed a day of reading his Bible, even when he was days away from his last breath.  I was inspired.  And though dying of bone cancer, the most painful kind of all, he never complained.  Not once.  And when the Lord finally took him home, his four daughters and wife were surrounding his bed, listening to his favorite hymn.

The day I flew home from the funeral I made a promise to myself and to God that I would follow in his footsteps by reading the Bible every single day no matter what.  And of course, one of the first things I read was the story of Adam and Eve.

What hit me as I was reading the story, is that Eve had everything she could possibly want.  She had God to walk with, a man who loved her, no worries about what to wear..no worries about anything really.

She lived in perfection.  She was perfection.  And on top of that, she got to hang out with God and hear His voice whenever she wanted to.  And yet there was this tree.  This one and only tree that was off limits.  One simple little tree in a garden of perfection.

It would seem to me that if I were in her place, I could easily brush it off and easily obey God’s command.
But, would I really?

The thing is, we all have this nature not to be content in our circumstances no matter what they may be.  We tend to look around and find the one thing, the one thing, that we don’t have and then decide if only we had it, we would be happy.

From the beginning of time, God gave free will.  He gives a choice.  He gave Eve everything she could want or need but without that tree, where would her free will really be?  Even in perfection, Eve looked around and saw what she didn’t have.  She felt God was withholding something that could complete her, and so she took things into her own hands.  She went to the tree, listened to the lies and half-truths, and made the fateful decision.  She took a bite, convinced Adam to as well, and their eyes were opened.  Contentment went out the window, sin came flying in.

My life is certainly far from perfect, but I have been incredibly blessed.  Yet, so often…too often, I get consumed with what I’m missing out on.  I become discontent and I start to complain.  I develop what I’ve started to call, “Eve-itis.”   I forget what I have, what I have been given, and I focus instead on what I think God is withholding from me.  I play God in my life, and when I do, it never ends up being better than if I had simply waited on Him.

This all brings me back to my grandpa.  What did he have?  He didn’t have his health, his freedom, his youth, and he certainly didn’t have any control over his body.  Every pleasure seemed to have been taken from him.  He was definitely far from living in perfection.  But, you never heard him talk about that.  He never vented or asked, “why me?”  He sat in peaceful silence and was grateful for every moment he had with the people he loved.  He held my hand and thanked me for the meal he could barely eat.  He prayed to the Lord every day and told Him he loved Him.  He was content.  He never showed any signs or symptoms of Eve-itis.

My prayer is that I can also follow his example in this as well.  To be able to climb my way out of Eve-itis when it hits. No matter what my circumstances may be.