Learning to be content

Philippians 4:11

Paul wrote, "... I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."
For many years, I've asked myself over and over again "what is contentment?" and what does it mean to be content. How do I learn be content in whatever state I am? 
Today, I think I found a bit of insight after reading Charles Spurgeon's response:
Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so,we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener's care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we  maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.


Indeed, in as much as it takes time and attention to grow flowers, learning to be content is not only an attitude to cultivate but also a lifestyle to pursue. It is not easy to be content in this world that promotes materialism, power and  ideologies antithetical to what Christ modeled, i.e., humility and self-sacrifice. How do I discipline a wayward heart? How do I redirect my focus so that I can see that the path I'm taking leads to the one true purpose of my existence? I feel that 2012 is my year of reckoning: not "retribution" but "calculation" of where I have been, where I am in my life now and where I'm going in the future, or better yet, where God is taking me...