Austen on contented living

This morning I was reclining on the couch reading a book, while my husband and son played on the floor with the wooden train set. Asher was intent on the train path, and Josh and I laughed at Asher's words and rudimentary sentences. It was all very content.

And then it's easy to wonder why I can have such a peaceful, happy, and fulfilling Saturday morning while another mother around the world can't find food to feed her children. Enter Jane Austen, who gives us one of the keys to contented living.

Photograph by Rick Harrison (Flickr).

True contented living is accompanied by a healthy dose of humility. The moment entitlement enters into your heart is the moment your life becomes smug instead of contented. Contented living is recognizing that peace is not only a gift, but a manifestation of the Divine. And when it comes to heavenly things, we can't help but see ourselves for how both small and grand we are as children of God.

Part of contented living--and also gracious living--is accepting our blessings and allowing ourselves to be happy, even when we don't have the answers to the world's inequity. If the Savior can take care of me and my family, then He can also care for the hungry, poor, and sick. Not to say that I can kick back and not act when I'm needed, but rather, when we find ourselves facing a period of contentment, we should allow ourselves to embrace it rather than feel guilty about it.

The thing is that we don't do anything to "deserve" whatever happiness we have. So what we need to do is live with gratitude and seek for the contentment within our blessings.

One last shout-out needs to go to Holly, who designed all the Saturday printables for this series. She is seriously talented, and it's been so much fun working with her on this!

This post is part of a 31-day series on contented living. You can find the other posts here.