What a Dumpster Maintenance Man Taught Me About Contentment

Throughout the latter part of my time in college, I worked at a dumpster and portable toilet company, maintaining their trucks and refurbishing their dumpsters and portables as they broke down in the extreme elements of South Florida.

It was hot, dirty, and difficult work, but it was the kind of formative job where you are constantly asked to do things that are out of your knowledge base and comfort zone, with just the right amount of hazing from the old men who were hazed way worse a generation before.

I worked with a guy named Melvin. Melvin had forgotten more about diesel trucks and their workings than I will ever know. To my knowledge, he had no formal education, and I don’t know how much early education he had, but there wasn’t much mechanical that he couldn’t figure out.

He was a lovely man who made sure I learned, and he did so without resorting to hazing. He was rural, rough around the edges, and had lived a hard life in his younger years, but when I knew Melvin, one thing you would know immediately is that he served Jesus.

I say he served Jesus because, at the time, though he talked about his relationship with Jesus a lot, I didn’t realize the extent to which he loved Jesus. College finished, and I moved on, and so did Melvin, but from time to time, I would catch up with him on the phone.

I found out that his grandson, whom he had adopted and who was always with him at work, had been murdered, and he spoke of nothing but forgiveness and love for his killers. Then, sometime later, I found out he had a rare and terminal cancer. I called him up and, as a young man, was shocked to hear the voice of a man content and at peace with his situation. He had nothing but praise for Jesus and peace in his situation.

My first meeting with Melvin may not have brought Philippians 4:11-14 to mind, but I can tell you, my last conversation with him did. I was given a beautiful example of what happens when a man so fully commits his life to Christ that nothing could take that contentment away from him.

Godliness and contentment

Paul lived an incredible life. He saw more things and accomplished more than most of us will ever dream of, and very little of it, if any, was easy. He faced physical difficulties in an era when any physical difficulty was an order of magnitude more difficult than it is now. He faced some kind of (though much-debated) physical ailment that made his life and work difficult, and yet he said: 

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11–13

Contentment in a Modern Age

If there is one thing that we can be sure of in life, it is that we will face difficulties and trials. Some more than others, and at differing levels of intensity, and yet we will all face them.  We may also face times of affluence and abundance and be tempted to forget God and drown in the emptiness of the material (something far more likely in the U.S.). But like Paul, no matter which one of these situations we find ourselves in, we can find true contentment in Christ.

I don’t write that last sentence with any sort of moral authority. Truth be told, most days I struggle with that contentment, whether in trial or abundance. I need to be reminded that, like the man in Psalm 1, I am rooted in Christ, and my contentment comes from my standing in Him.

As I write this, I have been up since 3:11 in the morning with the thoughts and anxieties running through my head that plague us all at times. Uncertainties about my family's future and worries over my children's provision and health. There couldn’t have been a more perfect time to study Philippians 4.

This week, I challenge you, as I challenge myself, to stay rooted in Christ and, like Melvin, to have a contentment that is impervious to trials and abundance alike.