Secret to Contentment

Daddy and Mother on their wedding day, Aug. 17, 1943

"There is an appointed time for everything...a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace." (Eccl. 3:1,8)

       



        My parents married on a hot summer's day in 1943 while the United States engaged in the heat of World War II. After a brief honeymoon in a rustic cabin overlooking DeSoto Falls in north Alabama, the newlyweds traveled by train to Camp Anza, an Army staging camp, in Riverside, California. 

Service Club, Camp Anza, 1944

       Mother worked at the base library connected to the Service Club while daddy, Capt. W. W. Watson, processed to go overseas. Every furlough, they explored the scenic wonders of the western seaboard in a 1931 Model A Ford. 
     As Charles Dickens penned in A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

Mama in Yosemite National Park

     The Apostle Paul once said, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation." (Phil. 4:11-12)
     Paul reveals the secret in the following verse: "I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens me."(Phil. 4:13)

       Whatever circumstances you find yourself in today, I pray that you will exercise the secret of contentment by finding strength in the Lord Jesus Christ! (And my mama would add, "And keep a good sense of humor!")

                Happy 70th Anniversary, Mama and Daddy!