The Life Of Contentment...

Today I attended a retirement party for one of my co-workers. She has worked for the same organization, doing exactly the same job, for 37 years. She's really a lovely woman, always smartly dressed, always pleasant -- the sort of person everyone likes. In his speech today, the Director said that he had never heard anyone say an unkind word about her, and that she had always been reliable in all the years he had known her.

In the ten years that I have known Gabrielle, she has always had the same expression on her face, and the same pleasant manner.  She is always happy, and today as I was looking at her during her retirement party, it occurred to me that Gabrielle's thermostat is permanently set at "medium" -- not too hot, not too cold -- just right.  She gives the impression that life has worked out for her just as she liked.  She's happily married, has two grown children with whom she has a perfect relationship, and she just seems to have a look of contentment all the time.  I think that's the reason folks like her -- she is always cheerful and positive, never moody.  I have not known many people like that in my life.  People are usually very complex, and Gabrielle is definitely not what anyone might call complex.  But she is content.  The question is, is Gabrielle content because life has been good to her, or has life been good to her because she is content?  How many of us are the authors of our own misfortunes, simply because we have not learned to be content?  How many of us have our thermostats turned too low, or too high?

Being satisfied with what life had to offer has served Gabrielle well.  Having a steady life not full of too many highs or lows seems to have been just the ticket for Gabrielle.  Perhaps it took a certain amount of discipline to stay the course like that.  We don't really know what someone else is thinking or feeling, and perhaps Gabrielle has been tempted many times to cut loose for parts unknown.  But she didn't, and I wonder if she realizes just how unique she is.  Perseverance is its own reward. ...