I have learned to be content.
—Philippians 4:11
There is no such thing as a “minor inconvenience” to a baby. Babies arrive knowing how to complain: they spend most of their awake hours crying. A crying baby is sometimes cute. A complaining adult never is.
Contentment is a learned attitude. We don’t have to learn how to complain, but we do have to learn how to be content. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” wrote Paul (Phil 4:11). And as if to underscore it, added, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Phil 4:12).
You will learn to be content when you learn to be thankful. Taking inventory of your blessings is the path to gratitude. There is no contentment where gratitude is absent and no complaining where gratitude is present.
You don’t need a PhD in math to count your blessings.
Elementary school addition will do the trick.