Being Content in a Facebook World.

Pictures pop up, new status alert, someone is engaged. Facebook is a world of reconnecting with old friends, it's a trip down memory lane and it's also a source of discontentment.

When "other" people are getting engaged and you're not, when "other" people are succeeding and you're not, when "other" people are full of smiles and you feel like gloom, discontentment can roll in pretty quickly.

I was reading the parable of the prodigal son yesterday in Luke 15:11-35. The young brother takes his half of his inheritance and goes to spend it on who knows what. He's loose and free to do as he pleases. The older brother stays home and works hard in the fields. He doesn't squander his money. But when the famine hits the land, the young brother finds himself hungry, without money, food and family, and eating from a pig's trough. He decides in his heart to go home and humbly ask for forgiveness. When he is walking up to the house, his father comes out with his arms wide open and he embraces his son. It's a moment of celebration, his father orders the fattest calf to be slaughtered, a fine robe for his son and a ring for his finger. He is home.

The older brother is peeved. The "other" brother gets everything and he gets nothing.

We all long for something, we all have our heart's desire; whether it be to move to the beautiful slopes of Colorado, find the dream job, have a baby, rebellious child to come around, marriage to be healed, we all have SOMETHING. We all have disappointments we face. And looking through the memories and smiles and accomplishments on facebook only seems to dig into deeper discontentment.

The older brother is discontent, even jealousy is popping out. He is looking at his young brother and finding himself ungrateful and bitter. He's all about "me me me."

EMPHASIS here is on the forgiveness and acceptance of the young brother. He lived his life, made mistakes and asked for forgiveness. The father HAD to celebrate his homecoming. His son humbled himself and came home.

A TESTIMONY to share, I am not relating with the brother who left home and squandered his money. I am relating with the older brother who is ungrateful and discontent. If the young brother was HUMBLE and the opposite was is older brother then the opposite must be PRIDE. Then I must be relating with the brother full of PRIDE. I'll be completely transparent here it it helps anyone who may be reading. I find myself more discontent and full of regret than I realized or would like to admit. Disontentment, Regret, If Only, Second Guessing....it's all PRIDE and God HATES Pride. I feel Discontent in who I've become and what I haven't accomplished. I feel Regret in experiences not embraced. I feel If Only in choices I made. I feel Second Guessing in the move I made here. BUT here's the FREEING TRUTH..... God never wastes an experience. Question to ask self "Can I LET myself ACCEPT that I am living a directed life EVEN when I feel I am floundering?" (from highly recommended book "Better Than My Dreams")

We make choices in the moment, hopefully prayerfully, that we feel is the right choice and even if it's not, God can still use it to minister to someone else. Truth is God has a bigger story HE is writing and we may never live to see the impact of our good OR bad choices.

God is planting seeds through your life that blossoms in ways we can't always see.

Even if your apple has a little spot, God can eat away the rot.