This picture is my way of trying to capture something profound that I’ve been re-learning lately.

As I write, I’m sat quiet in our kitchen with our two children on either side of me, both pairs of eyes glued to screens. It’s not a perfect moment, yet somehow I find myself perfectly content.

I’ve been reading Catching Contentment, by Liz Carter, and it has drawn me right back, through the swathes of negative voices and busy thoughts, to the depths of God’s love, grace and goodness. Gently, she’s reminded me of some things I’d forgotten or lost: things like the way God loves me, as I am; the way thankfulness can transform a moment; the way struggle is a part of life and that it’s OK to feel sad; the way God has made me and given me the life I’m in, and good things to do with it; and the way God offers hope and light to a world weighed down. The secret of contentment is hidden like treasure among all these lost and found truths.

Contentment is here to be found. It’s in the daisies and in the rain. It’s in a morning’s worth of hard work. It’s in the pushing and persevering of friendships and parenting and marriages. It can even be found in taking out the rubbish or washing dishes. It’s definitely in the quiet picking oneself up and putting one foot in front of the other, that so many people do for so many reasons. It’s in the hospital corridors and at the graveside.

For me, contentment is essentially found in my faith in a God who loves me, a God who is good.

If you’d like to know more about my faith as a Christian, please feel free to comment or message me, or consider signing up for an Alpha course near you.