{"id":46158,"date":"2023-07-18T09:39:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T14:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?p=46158"},"modified":"2023-07-18T09:41:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T14:41:01","slug":"family-vacation-teaches-a-lesson-in-contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2023\/07\/18\/family-vacation-teaches-a-lesson-in-contentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Family vacation teaches a lesson in contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">My wife, children and I traversed five states on a grand adventure earlier this month \u2013 thanks to a gift from some family members. Contentedly, we meandered through Grand Teton National Park and then through Yellowstone National Park, keeping our eyes peeled for bears, moose, foxes, coyotes, bald eagles, bison and antelope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">We loved seeing such beautiful wildlife against the backdrop of mountains, streams and waterfalls. Eager to suck the marrow out of life, my son even delighted in every caterpillar and chipmunk he saw in the wilds of Wyoming and Montana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">From Yellowstone, we drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore. As the sun set behind the presidential monument, we reflected gratefully on the freedoms handed down to us during the nearly 250 years of our nation\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Of the four presidents memorialized by Mount Rushmore, I\u2019m especially fascinated by Teddy Roosevelt \u2013 perhaps, because a high school history teacher many years ago shared about his life and times with passion and verve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Overcoming childhood frailty, Roosevelt aimed to be a \u201cdoer of deeds,\u201d striving to live out his own, famous words:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,\u201d Roosevelt said. \u201cThe credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Roosevelt\u2019s example and words remind me, in a sense, of Christ\u2019s \u201cParable of the Talents\u201d (Matt 25:14-30). They inspire me to put aside timidity, to strive valiantly and invest my \u201ctalents\u201d \u2013 that is, everything I am, do and have \u2013 for the Lord\u2019s greater glory and the growth of His kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">From the Black Hills, we then drove east through the Badlands and, finally, to De Smet, South Dakota, and to the homestead where 20th-century author Laura Ingalls Wilder \u2013 of \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d fame \u2013 lived with her family during childhood. (Laura later moved to Mansfield, Mo., where she wrote her books.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In late 1880 and early 1881, the Ingalls family endured a long and difficult winter in De Smet, with little food and little fuel for the fire. Nevertheless, they learned that winter not to focus on what they lacked, but to appreciate the simple things of life that they had.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Out of such experiences in life, Laura later wrote, \u201cAs the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cThey are the things,\u201d she added, \u201cthat fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness \u2013 just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">After our visit to De Smet, we drove home to Missouri, with our minds and imaginations full of the sights and sounds of the northern mountains and plains. But I also brought home with me lessons in contentment \u2013 lessons from my children, from Teddy Roosevelt and from the Ingalls family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Contentment, as G.K. Chesterton once wrote, isn\u2019t merely the decision to \u201cdo without\u201d or to quietly suffer through whatever bitter lot we\u2019re faced with. Instead, he said, \u201cIt is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.\u201d It is delighting in a caterpillar and chipmunks, as much as in bison and bears. It is striving valiantly in the face of success and failure. It is fully appreciating the simple, everyday<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>blessings, no matter what season of life we\u2019re living through.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Above all, contentment means finding ultimate joy and satisfaction in Christ Jesus, no matter the circumstances \u2013 saying, with the apostle Paul, that we can do all things and endure all things through Christ, who is our life and strength (Phil 1:21, 4:10-13).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Above all, contentment means finding ultimate joy and satisfaction in Christ Jesus, no matter the circumstances \u2013 saying, with the apostle Paul, that we can do all things and endure all things through Christ, who is our life and strength (Phil 1:21, 4:10-13).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":43892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[37,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Family vacation teaches a lesson in contentment<\/title>\n<meta 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