There is a vast difference between contentment and resignation. It's easy to mistake one for the other--to happily say to oneself, "I am not being constantly jealous or fretting: I must be content!" But resignation can simply be complacency-- not thinking or caring enough to care, passive. Contentment is a constant struggle, actively facing the desire and submitting it to God. It requires picking up the shield of faith over, and over, and over again. It is not a state of mind to be achieved, but a state of being to be sought. Contentment is a willingness to bear the present burden, leaving the future in God's hands.
"What is [fill in the blank] to you? You follow me."
"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
My eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with its mother,
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore."
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