"But godliness with contentment is great gain..."- 1Tim 6:6
Contentment is being satisfied with circumstances and position in life; it means that we are satisfied with what we get from life. We don't need more (finances, recognition, relationships, success, health, etc.) to live a full life. Our contentment doesn't depend on circumstances, or on other people's appreciation, or on having our customs and routine in life in place, or on any financial well-being, or on our health. This kind of contentment is really a great gain, a tremendous profit in life. The source of this kind of contentment is God himself who is unchanging, so this kind satisfaction can be stable and independent from circumstances. Circumstances, situations, positions, relationships, health, finances and people are changing. If our contentment depends on those things than we will be continually dissatisfied; and we will become addicted idol-worshipers: we will always need something other than God to satisfy our "thirst" and to make us content. If our contentment depends on the One who is unchanging than our contentment will be free from the circumstances, from our position in life, from our relationship with others, etc. That's why we can be satifsfied when we don't get what we wish to get from life. We can be content when we don't get the relationships we wanted, the finances we desired for, the health we wished to have, the success we have worked for. That's why we can be content when our plans and days and well inteded routines are fragmanted by crises and unexpected interruptions. That's why we can be satisfied when we feel the pain of being disappointed in people. That's why we can be satisfied in God even when our well-inteded and needed quite times with him are interrupted by the needs of our children. God allows situations like that so we would learn to depend only on Him and not on anything we do or want from life. God's resources are the same and available to us even when we loose control over our own life, time, health, etc. And when things are not as we planned then we don't have any reason to be unpatient or upset or to be dissatisfied. When we expect satisfaction from something or someone else other than God then we will become upset, angry, disappointed and disillusioned when our expectations from life are not met. Contentment is not something that we need to achive, it's something we can already have.
2013 will be full with unexpected changes, with unwanted crises and most likely with undesired disappointments in people and in life. We need to remember: God is ENOUGH to make us fully content.