Summer Bucket Lists and a Mystery to Seek

It's a warm Sunday afternoon, with the breeze shuffling through treetops out the window. It's a good day, this first Sunday in June, to consider the summer still stretching before us. Grabbing a handful of books off of Ben's office shelf, I scanned through the first couple pages of one of them, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

A line (underlined by Ben) caught my eye. As Burroughs unpacks Philippians 4:12, he summarizes the point: That to be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian.

It arrests my attention maybe because of my original plan in hiding out in Ben's study for an hour or two this afternoon ... to make a list of goals for the summer, or at least things to discuss with Ben when we have a few minutes.

Summer Bucket List:

• Daddy dates (and Mommy dates) with the boys
• Explore nearby ice cream shops
• Concerts in the park
• Swimming at Golden Lake Beach
• Sunday picnics after church
• Explore north trails and regional parks
• Check out a county fair
• Family bike rides

Lovely things, really. And I hope we do some (or all) of them.

But this painfully elusive mystery--contentment at all times, whatever may come--strikes me as a helpful, permeating pursuit for the season ahead.

A heart that receives with quiet gratitude what God is pleased to give.

Be it sweet, silly moments making faces with my boys ... or a temper tantrum at the Cub checkout. Restful and refreshing mornings at a coffee shop ... or a middle of the night stomach flu. Peaceful playing at a park ... or stressful, exhausting shepherding through sibling squabbles, defiance, arrogance, and the painful revealing of my own sinful need.

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

Yes indeed, growth in the art and mystery of contentment would be a sweet fruit of grace this summer.