Living in contentment

I have just look at pics of a friend's trip to India. In one of the pictures is a pic of the slum. It really reminds me of the movie, slumdog millionaire. The thing that captured me the most is my friend's caption for that pic. I quote:

"The view from my room window - the slums where the impoverished live - But I never really felt sorry for any of them. Because despite their circumstances, when I looked into their eyes I saw no trace of poverty. The only things I saw were a wealth of

Happiness and Contentment.
God bless India."

I come to think of my life. What kind of life do I want to live? Nowadays, in the working world we can see people get caught in the never ending rat race to the top. To what top, I dont know. We always want more money but its never enough. This brings me to another important financial aspect, savings. Its no wonder that a person will never get to save anything from their salary. They keep on whining," If only I have a better pay then, I can save more". If a person think that way, they will never get to save anything. It all comes down to how do we spend our money and are we contented with the things that we have.

The people in the slum, they dont have much but they are still happy and content with the things that thay have. If we know how to be content with the things that we have, we wouldnt want to spend so much on unnecessary things. We dont need to follow other people's standard. We know for ourselves what we can afford and what would makes us happy. Wise person wouldnt waste their life away for nothing.

In this time of recession, I'm sure that a lot of people would say money is very much a necessesity. I agree that money is necessary but it depends on ourself whether the money that we have is sufficient or not. People might answer me back that I could say that bcos I never experience the hardship. I do understand what it means to have no money but still need to pay bills and so on. I have experienced that. I have to make do with eating just rice porridge to save on rice, no cloth buying and so on. That happened to me when I was in a foreign land with no relatives to help me and I do not want to burden my family and friends.

Ecclesiastes 8:15
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

Hebrew 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

I hope that I will always bring with me this pearly wisdom all throughout my life. Let us enjoy life with contentment. Contentment should not be confused with complacent. Be joyful always!! =)