We spend much of our lives focused on accumulation. Accumulation of experiences, love, wealth, and legacy.
Underscoring our efforts is the belief that if we have more, life will be simpler. That abundance itself will destress us and facilitate contentedness. Unfortunately, experience tell us otherwise. For abundance alone possess as much capacity to erode confidence and contentedness as it does to bolster it. There has to be something more to truly satisfy our longings.
Solomon speaks to this concept in Proverbs Chapter 11:
“A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
but a principled life can stand up to the worst. ”
The answer to contentedness and surviving life’s storms is not more, but grounding. For in grounding ourselves in absolutes, we shed moral relativism and remain appropriately arrayed to absorb the challenges of life. Certainly we may bend, but rooted in Truth we won't break.
Conversely, a life wholly focused on personal gain is akin to playing a game with unknown and constantly changing rules. This ‘blind nil’ approach may work for a time, but it will eventually be dashed by the realities of life.
Therefore, we must constantly self-assess to assure the contents upon which we are building our foundation and lives upon are robust. For we experience true peace only when are living righteously with our relationships in order.