CONTENT WITH THE CONTENT?

Words are interesting to me. Good deal since what I do involves them so often. This week, for no apparent reason, I kept having a particular heteronym roil over in my mind. Words are heteronyms when they are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. For example, lead (to guide) and lead (a malleable heavy metallic element). The first, as you know, is pronounced "leed" and the second, "led." The set I was thinking of was content and content. Content (kon-tent), the noun, refers to what is contained. Content (kan-tent) is an adjective meaning satisfied. We can put these together: With the content of his savings account he was content. The content of one's heart determines whether or not he is content. Content determines whether or not one is content. God has made our soul to contain Him. If we seek to fill it, our lives, our thoughts, our affections with something other than Him, we will never be content. It is when the content of our lives is what pertains to God that we are content. It is like the relaxing child who's content of his stomach is filled with Mom's cooking. He is content. He could have stuffed himself with cotton candy, fizzing soda pop, and bowls of ice cream and never been content. You can muse with other heteronyms: row, row; desert, desert. But, are you content with the content of your life.