What you now have
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus
Here's one that often gets me. I want something so I search it out, research the best price, shop around, and then buy it. I get it home and then it sits there while I obsess over the next thing I want. It's like the thrill of the pursuit was the point and then I'm not content with the thing I was pursuing. This is an urge I have to fight in myself. When I see my son displaying this same pattern, I try to steer him away from it. But I know I'm not alone in this pursuit.
I wonder how often you think about the fact that many people in the world are pusuing the very things you take for granted? That doesn't just mean physical possessions, but also vocation, family, health, etc. What we have now is something we at one time only hoped for, and what some still wish to possess. What if we stopped focusing on the next thing and just became grateful for what we have? What if we shifted our mindset from one of want to one of contentment?
The Apostle Paul is a fine example of this way of thinking. Once a greatly respected man who had trained his whole life to be a leader in the Sanhedrin, he gave up all of his prestige to become a follower of Jesus. That new life came with pursectution, poverty, prison, shipwreck, snake bites, you name it. But somehow, amidst all of that trouble, he was able to write, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:12-13 ESV)
The more we want, the less happy we'll be with what we get. We spoil what we have by desiring what we have not. It's far better to learn to be like Paul, to know how to be brought low and how to abound, to be at peace no matter where we find ourselves. It's not impossible, it just takes a shift in mindset. We don't have to be ruled by the things of this world. Freedom comes from being able to thrive with little or with a lot, with health or without it, with a fulfilling job or with one we dislike doing. There's power in the ability to not be controlled by your circumstances.