by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grass-300x200.jpg\")
It is a common problem with the human heart to fail to see the green grass we have and appreciate it. The heart can be conditioned over time to be unthankful and unappreciative of what we have. This outlook always sees greener grass elsewhere. This means that we have failed our own hearts. Unlike Paul, who learned to be content in whatever state or condition he found himself, we learn from others how to complain and see things negatively.<\/p>\n
The heart has to learn <\/b>that secret of contentment. No one can learn that secret for us. We have to learn it for ourselves. We learned discontentment and the way of unthankfulness, and so we need to learn a new way of thinking. It begins with appreciating your own things and learning to be thankful each moment of each day. Even when Paul was in prison, each letter exudes thanksgiving. You can’t read a letter of Paul and feel sorry for him. He was never sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He was enjoying the green grass wherever he was. We could learn from Paul.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton It is a common problem with the human heart to fail to see the green grass we have and appreciate it. The heart can be conditioned over time to be unthankful and unappreciative of what we have. This outlook always sees greener grass elsewhere. This means that we have failed our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[681,385,524],"class_list":["post-88116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-appreciation","tag-contentment","tag-satisfaction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20102,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/learning-the-secret-of-contentment\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":0},"title":"Learning the Secret of Contentment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Green \u201cNot that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content\u201d (Philippians 4:11, ESV). Do you find contentment to be elusive? Be encouraged. Even the apostle Paul realized being content was something he had to learn. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/contentment-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-secret-of-learning-to-be-content\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":1},"title":"The Secret of Learning to Be Content","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 4:10-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul faced many adversities during his life \u2013 more than most of us will see - II Corinthians 11:24-27 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What sort of person would you be with this sort of life? What attitudes would people notice first? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bitter? Hardened? Depressed? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet, through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42319,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-be-truly-happy\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":2},"title":"How to be Truly Happy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Allen \"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.\" Abraham Lincoln Are you happy? Truly happy? Have you found the joy that is found in Christian living? Christianity contains the keys to true happiness during our earthly existence. It is only in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/happiness-184x300.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jamaica-patois-wisdom-contentment\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":3},"title":"Jamaica Patois Wisdom – Contentment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought-provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of teaching there, I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Jamacia2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Jamacia2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Jamacia2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Jamacia2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22442,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/rolling-with-the-punches\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":4},"title":"Rolling with the Punches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One thing about Christians in Scripture (ideally speaking) \u2014 they learned to roll with the punches no matter what was going on. If the government opposed them, they went with it and continued to glorify God. If things were going smoothly, they enjoyed the peace and they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/dandelion-ease-flight-thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61344,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-contentment\/","url_meta":{"origin":88116,"position":5},"title":"Notes on Contentment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Psalm 18:1-6, 32-33 - \"I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}