“He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet” (27:7). Life, for many people in our world, is a constant struggle punctuated by the occasional enjoyment of small pleasures. And how they appreciate these small pleasures! For most people in Australia, however, life is full of pleasure. To keep us wanting more, the market must always devise ingenious new pleasures. This works because we easily become bored and dissatisfied with what we already have. With so many pleasures our senses become dulled. The 18th Century philosopher, Voltaire tells the story of a wealthy man (one of the many characters in his cynical novel, Candide) who was surrounded by the most sublime objects but unable to take pleasure in them. He was desensitised by the sheer abundance of pleasure in his life. He therefore became aggravatingly bored and his life torturously empty. The average Australian is very wealthy by world standards. We might be ‘the bored aristocracy’ of the world. Like the aristocrats of 18th century France, we may have become alienated from the reality of ‘peasant life’ in the streets and farms of the developing world. Our televisions can be like the windows of our mansions from which we look with pity on the poor. But who is to be pitied? Isn’t it the one who is so full that he loathes the life he has? Or is it the one who is so hungry that he finds the greatest pleasure in the simplest things? Appreciation and contentment begin with gratitude. Let’s be thankful to God for what we have and appreciate the simple things in life.
Reflect on your state of contentment and thank God for what you have.
Read Proverbs 27:1-16
