Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you get a big win, a new purchase, a grand gift, that there is often a loss that follows shortly after?

I am thinking of Salem’s birthday gifts.  She got an unexpected amount of Legos, new and used.  She was naturally delighted and overwhelmed. But a couple of days later, she was nearly distraught because she had lost one of her old favorite sets, a small motorcycle.

I saw myself in this real life parable. God gives me so much, new and wondrous, that I didn’t even know I was getting, and the glow of that quickly fades as I lament over a much smaller, insignificant “treasure” from the past.  And as I was trying to comfort Salem, because I really was sad with her that she had lost this favorite toy,  I felt like God was teaching us both.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain,” I told her (1st Timothy 6:6).  It is not just godliness, for that can be self-righteousness.  It is not just contentment, because many a monk missed the abundance of our giving God through self-denial.  It is not just great gain, because there are many who have much, but live in misery.

It is the perfect blend of all, godliness, contentment, and great gain.  They balance each other, like a chemical reaction.  Too much of either one, and the recipe is ruined.  And I believe that God loves to tinker with our ingredients to help us develop a taste for more of Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36