Rules for Contentment

In Elisabeth Elliot's book "Secure in the Everlasting Arms", she quotes the following "rules" for contentment, written by E.B. Pusey (1800-1882).

1) Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.
2) Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou are not.
3) Never compare thine own lot to that of another.
4) Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than that doest thyself.
5) Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide".

If we could only live like that, I think we would gain much contentment. The last point is very interesting - that looking forward to (or dreading) sorrow is often worse than the actual sorrow itself - looking back days, weeks, years of my life, how true that is. With God's grace, may we all strive to keep these rules, and grow in the Christian jewel of contentment.