TV

About a month ago, our 10-plus-year-old TV stopped working. It went out for the first time last Summer and Hubby had it fixed. But this time, we got a new TV. We had moved from a tube (that would take two strong guys to move) to one of those fancy flat screen, HDTVs. We had jumped from a 27-inch TV to a 40-inch TV.

I must say it is very nice to have a much lighter TV and the quality is quite an upgrade. I will also admit that I look forward to watching tennis on it later this month. :) 

However, I was actually not as excited about the new TV as I thought I would be. I had watched tennis matches or movies on those fancy screens at other peoples' homes before; and occasionally, I had thought that it might be cool for Hubby and me to have a TV just like that. But our TV was fine so we had no justification for the purchase. Now that we have such a TV sitting in our house, I have been fairly calm about this. In fact, I have not used the TV in the past four days (Hubby's been out of town).

This TV experience reminded me of the time we bought our house. A few years before we bought our house, we had considered buying a house in our previous town, so we looked at some model homes, which gave me ideas. In my head, I had a list of things that I thought would be nice to have in our future home, including a library, rounded corners and a flat glass stove top. When we bought our house, these features happened to be part of the house. I must say I was - and still am - exited about the loft which we use as a library, but I also realized that I would have no problem living in a house without the loft, the rounded corners or a flat glass stove top. 

Perhaps this is God's sense of humor, or it is simply His way of teaching me to be a good steward of the things that He gives me so generously. If I keep wanting things, maybe He will just withhold them until I learn not to be preoccupied with, or even controlled by, those things - whether it be a house, a vehicle, electronics, or whatever that might be, tangible or otherwise.

I still have my silly wants, like a smart phone, but I also understand the monetary costs that come with owning such a phone. Do I really need a smart phone? No. It would be something nice to have (I can text faster, I can get online faster, I can have more storage space for photos, whatever the rationale might be), but, a few occasional glitches aside, my current phone is working just fine. I have not completely gotten rid of my want for a smart phone, but I have lately become much more appreciative of my phone.

I read this somewhere not too long ago -

Contentment is not having what you want, it is wanting what you have.

 The Apostle Paul also said in the book of Philippians -

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. - Philippians 4: 12

 Well said.