It Is Well

               When I was younger, I remember asking my father about being content. At the time I said I never wanted to be content because, in my opinion, that meant you weren’t growing or learning anything. I couldn’t understand how he could “settle” for contentment. How could he be satisfied with the status quo? Didn’t he want more?

               Fast forward 30 years (eek! How can it be that long?) More has been replaced with enough. Settle has been replaced with desire and status quo has been replaced with life experiences.

               I no longer need more because I have enough. Enough love from family and friends to keep me going through times of fear and doubt. Enough to keep my bills paid and meet annual deductibles that I never dreamed I would have to meet. Enough to have a full cupboard and warm bed. I don’t need more.

               I haven’t settled in my life, I have a great desire to learn and grow. I’ve been blessed with a boundless amount curiosity for making the works of my hands better, faster, more accurate. That curiosity brings me great satisfaction and sharing that knowledge with the people around me gives me purpose.

               And status quo? What is that, anyway? Life has been full of great experiences, people I’ve met, places I’ve been. I never intended to know a hematologist, but I do now. And he’s a wonderful man that I admire. I never thought I’d spend so much time in an infusion clinic, but it has afforded me the opportunity to pray and believe for the young woman sitting next to me, the elderly man in the wheel chair, the husband and wife holding hands.

               Contentment, I now understand, is about being at peace. The lyrics to It Is Well with My Soul grow dearer to my heart with each passing day: 

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul

            It is well. Not easy or without pain. But well. Content. Satisfied