Penguins

An important life lesson was illustrated to me today...by penguins. No, really. In the movie Madagascar my favorite characters are the military penguins. Throughout the entire movie they pursue the seemingly unattainable goal of reaching Antarctica, their beloved homeland where they believe everything will be perfect. The entire movie is spent in a series of mishaps, and more drama befalls the less interesting characters, until finally at the end the penguins sail off into the sunset and arrive at their destination. Antarctica! As they stand in a huddle on a frozen iceberg surrounded by bitter wind and blowing snow one of them eloquently comments, "Well this sucks."

At this point I just have to laugh, because this is exactly the way I feel about life sometimes (not the part where it sucks ;-) Often I spend my life looking ahead to the future, pursuing the next step, reaching for the seemingly unattainable goal...yet when I finally reach that place I find myself dissatisfied, disillusioned, and longing for things to be different than they really are. Just like the penguins I can be discontent with the place where I am at instead of being thankful for the blessings that surround me in the present day (even though I've never been stranded on a beautiful tropical island).

Contentment. It should be so simple yet it is a often a daily battle. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes, "...I have learned in whatever state I am to be content." I hope that someday I can truthfully echo Paul's statement. Until then, I'll continue to take a lesson from my penguin friends and daily strive for contentment at the place in which God has placed me.