Force-Flex Garbage Bags and Contentment
How many of us have had experience with an overflowing garbage? Well, I’d argue that if we have ever lived alone as bachelors, we have most certainly experienced this! I know that when this happens in my home, I’m likely to look for some sort of paper product or something else that’s thick enough to separate my hand from the rest of the garbage and place whatever it is that I find on top of my already bursting-to-the-brim trash can and smash the garbage further downward into the bin. I’ll do this several times until my stubbornness loses the battle against the enemy garbage can that refuses to hunker down any more.
What’s the solution? Of course it’s a Force-Flex garbage bag… right? These are probably the best garbage bags out there, and if you’ve used them, you’ll likely agree. These garbage bags were designed for lazy slobs like myself who refuse to take out a garbage bag when it ought to be taken out, and also (probably) for the fact that we’ll throw practically anything away, including sharp-edged objects that would otherwise poke through the bag. I like these bags a lot because I can cram way more stuff in these bags and they’re much less likely to tear on my walk to the dumpster.
Follow me, here. The train of thought that I had one evening was that at the time, I was thinking about contentment. We got these bags literally to be able to smash more garbage in one bag, and also because buying cheaper bags exposes us to the higher likelihood of a rip or tear in the bag (while carrying it to the garbage, naturally), thus rendering it a guaranteed disaster from hell. Are the force flex bags necessary? Of course not. We got by forever before them, didn’t we? We had to use a bit of common sense and not put a ton of sharp objects in the garbage all willy-nilly and use caution when we did to ensure we didn’t destroy the bag and ruin the process of removing it.
So, too, our spiritual lives. I find that when I am content with how my life is going, the possessions that I have, or the relationships I’ve developed, I experience a peace. I encounter a contentment that is not complacent nor apathetic, but that is a peaceful and joy-filled contentment. In these periods of life, I do not sense a need to ‘fit’ more in, or add more things to my life. It is a sense of gratitude and appreciation, not of complacency, or an attitude of, “I guess I’ll just have to be okay with this.” How joyous we ought to be with what we have now!
There are peaks and valleys, exciting times and dry spells in the spiritual life; we know this. We are not created to experience a drug-like high sentimentality within our lives. It is unrealistic to expect to go through life as such. However, if I ever notice that I’m trying to squeeze more of something (than perhaps is normal for me), I am usually able to identify why I am doing that; a lack of intentionality of placing God as the source of my need.
When we examine our lives, and particularly when we might sense a void or something lacking, we are able to identify what contributes to our ‘contentment.’ As Catholic men, we are called to keep our wants in check. We are called to serve the Lord, and not the mammon. The mammon can take on many forms; power, pleasure, honor, wealth, etc… We need to make sure that our jobs, money (investing, stock, salary), women (pornography, premarital sexual relations), and other things are not taking the place of our focus instead of Jesus Christ. They can slowly creep in and we can unconsciously begin to add a surplus of the temporal pleasures to fill the void of letting our relationship with the Lord slip away.
These sorts of things can sneakily enter into our lives to add artificial ‘happiness’ if we aren’t able to identify a void. They can become the focal point of our satisfaction when really, we know that God should be that source. We can end up trying to cram many other substitutes for God into our lives to create that satisfaction that only the Creator of the Universe can provide.
What to do, then? There’s a great chance that what you have going on now in your life is plenty sufficient. What you have is what the Lord has provided you, isn’t it? Then let it be recognized that perhaps what He wants us to understand is being grateful for what He has given to us at this point in our lives. We don’t need to ‘cram’ more in. I’d argue that many a time that is not what God desires for us. He wills for us a sense of gratitude for what we’ve received from the Giver; He wills for us as men to give back to the Him what we have been given.
During our examination of conscience, let us reflect on what we have, and how we can be more grateful. I find that a sense of gratitude quickly cures my pity party of things I don’t have, which really, I don’t need.
Pax Christi,
Cameron
