May 23

Be content with such things as ye have. — Heb 13:5

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. — Phil 4:11

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
—J. G. WHITTIER.

If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:—

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God’s, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. “The Lord will provide.”
—E. B. PUSEY.