The Art of Divine Contentment | Thomas Watson | DD 142

Welcome to the Dear Daughters Podcast in 2021!

If there is one thing I learned over the last year, it is the importance of stepping back from the news and media to re-engage in a habit of reading spiritual classics. The authors who I’ll be featuring on the podcast have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. There’s just so much we can learn from them. I want to invite you to come along with me this season and dive into the wisdom of these faithful followers of Jesus.

This next book is one that I read and reread over and over. It is The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson. Here are three things you should know about Thomas:

Thomas Watson was born in 1620. He was an English, non-conformist Puritan preacher and author … I counted over 17 books! History says he was brilliant … genius-level smart.  Around 1647 he married Abigail Beadle, daughter of a minister of Puritan convictions. They had seven children in the next thirteen years, four of whom died young. In 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love’s plot to recall Charles II of England. In 1686 he died suddenly while praying in secret.

Thomas writes so many quotable, one-line truths in The Art of Divine Contentment. Here are five of my favorites:

“It is our work to cast care. It is God’s work to take care.” “A gracious spirit is a contented spirit.” “Here is the difference between a holy complaint and a discontented complaint: in the one we complain to God, in the other we complain of God.” “Comfort depends on contentment.” “Contentment lies within a man, within the heart.”

I want to share three ways I have found contentment:

Taking my troubles to God in prayer. Taking care of what I have. Talking to my spiritual director or a close friend who has wisdom beyond mine.

I think we are people who struggle greatly with contentment. It’s an area that requires a lot of study and a lot of time. I hope this inspires you to seek true, divine, contentment.

My prayer is that you cast your cares on God, that you nurture a gracious spirit, and that you find contentment so you can love your one beautiful life. I pray that you have a smile for God.

SHOW NOTES Get a copy of The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson. Learn more about Mobile Loaves and Fishes and Community First! Village in Austin, TX. Shop the Community Art House! All the arts and crafts are created by the residents of Community First! Village. (And they currently have a Valentine’s Day special!) Follow me on Instagram for a chance to win one of those pretty ceramic hearts I talked about (plus lots of pretty pictures and encouragement, too). Follow Honey Holden on Instagram. Download the FREE 2021 Goal Guide that I created just for you. Listen to my 2021 Hopeful playlist on Spotify. Get encouragement in your inbox each week: Sign up for my newsletter! Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online. Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan’s music.

Order your copy of The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life, a guide for extending God’s grace to yourself and others.

My book, Dear Daughters, is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you’re craving. Get a copy of Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation.