Content with what we need

A simple wooden bowl with just one apple in it, plain and enough, while a pile of shiny coins and jewels sits untouched and ignored in the corner, with the words “content with what we need” lettered by hand.

God, take from us our worry about the empty things of this world, and make us content with what we need. Keep our hearts from delighting in this life’s status, money and pleasures, and grow in us a longing to be with you in your eternal Kingdom. Lord, give us such a taste and feel for your joys in heaven, joys beyond words, that we always long for them, and say with all your people, “Bring your Kingdom soon, Lord! Take us to be with you.” For the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5 (BSB)

Adapted from Edmund Grindal, via A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages (1913), in plain words. The verse is from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Drawing: Mutter.