Whatever.

Can you see the teenagers saying it and rolling their eyes? What if “Whatever” had a different meaning.

The journey of chronic illness, disability, and isolation is full of ups and downs. One day we can do something, the next we cannot. Days can get long. It is difficult to deal with. Disappointment comes with the territory. We learn to hold things lightly.

This past weekend, I was able to do a bit more. The freedom of it felt amazing. I also know that the winter is coming when isolation is at its peak due to the weather and flu season. I want to do more and more. Reality tells me that I will once again be isolated. I asked myself if I was willing to be isolated once again. Will I praise through the “whatever?”

God brought these verses to mind. I know we have looked at them before, but they hit differently this week. The apostle Paul was isolated in prison when he wrote them. He had struggled with lack. Now, the churches have sent things to him. He is explaining what God has taught him about his “whatever.” Yes, he was human like the rest of us and had to learn things spiritually as well. He has learned to be content with “whatever.”

Philippians 4:10-13

^“10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

¹³ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Look at that! He had learned to be content in all. If I were to personalize verse 12 – or what I aspire to be my personal testimony in verse 12, it would be, “I know both how to be able to go out of the house and how to be isolated: every where and in all things I am instructed both to enjoy time with people and how to be alone, both to abound and to suffer need.”

We so often take verse 13 out of context. In context, Paul is saying that he can be content through Christ’s strength.

May we learn as Paul did to be content with whatever!