During a phone call from a friend back in Minnesota I told him how bad our mosquitoes have been here in Colorado this summer. Normally our summer has few if any of those pesky little bugs. My friend said something surprising for a Minnesotan: "Be thankful you have mosquitoes!"
I thought I'd heard it all, but I guess not. I've tried to give God thanks for all kinds of blessings in life, but thankful for mosquitoes? I believe I'll pass on that one, and I told him my so.
He responded, "If you've had mosquitoes, it means you've had rain. It's been so dry here we haven't had mosquitoes all summer. Right now I'd give anything if we'd have had mosquitoes like in a normal summer. There is almost no crop at all, and with grain prices being so high, it's doubly hard. So be grateful you have mosquitoes."
I couldn't argue with him on that. If they come along with rain for the crops, even mosquitoes can be a blessing.
Last winter our chorus at Palm Creek, Arizona, sang a Monty Python song with the chorus line, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Its lyrics mocked all kinds of things, but that line had a good thought. If we look for the good things in life rather than the bad, we stand a better chance of being content.
With ugly national politics, a shaky economy, family problems and growing world tensions, it is tempting only to look on the dark side of life. But St. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11, "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." He wrote those words from prison - not the brightest place in life to be! Yet that was where he found contentment through trusting in Jesus.
Christian contentment is never a constant thing, nor does it mean we must ignore the consequences of evil. Problems need not control us if we look for the good things God has given us. Even mosquitoes can be a blessing.
Our Lord Jesus came to this earth to give us eternal life. Until we experience His precious gift fully in heaven, He has given us an earthly life of blessings. Here even problems can be a blessing if we look at the bigger picture. Like St. Paul, we also can learn the secret of being content.
"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)
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