That Thing You're Complaining About

This morning, as I stumbled back to the coffee maker for another cup, silently grumbling to myself about the early hour, the turn the weather was taking back to wintry, windy cold and the mess I was having to sidestep to get there - a bird began to sing outside.  Loudly.  With exuberance.  That bird didn't care what time it was or what the temperature happened to be at that time.  The bird was just happy the sun was just starting to peek over the mountains and there were a few seeds left in my needs-to-be-refilled bird feeder.

photo - publicedomainpictures.net

As I listened to him heralding his happiness for all to hear, I felt a tugging at my heart. A quiet whispering reminding me that all the things we take for granted in a day... are the things someone else is hoping and praying for.  Where I find cause to complain... someone else would be giving thanks.

Have to get up early?  Someone, somewhere is praying for just one more day.

The weather too cold?  In six months you'll likely be complaining about how hot it is. 

 A messy house to clean up... again? Someone is waking up in a homeless shelter. Under a bridge.  In an alley. Moving from one refugee camp to another to escape the terror taking place around them. Picking up what they can find in the rubble that used to be a house destroyed by a storm or fire.

Kids driving you crazy?  Somewhere a couple is heading to another infertility treatment.  Or waiting for an adoption to take place.  Somewhere a mother has nothing left of her child but photos and memories.

Stuck in traffic?  Somewhere there's a man walking most of 20 miles to and from work every day.  (and yes, I know this guy ended up getting a car... after 10 years of this commute - but I am sure there are others out there just like him)

photo - publicdomainpictures.net

 Not looking forward to making a list and going grocery shopping?  Meanwhile there are children starving all over the world... right in your own town.

A huge pile of laundry?  Someone is wearing the same shirt and pants day after day after day because that's all they have.

Hate your job? Your co-workers? Your boss?  Someone is still looking for a job.  Any job.  After months or years of unemployment.

Today my challenge to you (and myself) is this -  When you catch yourself complaining or thinking negative thoughts as you go about your day, STOP and consider how this thing you are finding so tedious, annoying, irritating,or tiring might be a blessing for someone else.  I guarantee it will change your attitude in a hurry.

You can find me connecting at these Blog Hops and Link Ups

That One Thing

In our women's Bible study this past week, we focused on Eve. Her creation.  Her role as companion, partner, and helper.  The fall.

Many of us (especially we women) love to focus on her role in the first sin.  That temptation and the forbidden fruit. We blame Eve for our monthly cycles, hormonal rages, and pains.  We blame her for sin, pain, and evil in the world.  We find ourselves feeling a bit superior to that weak woman in the garden who took the forbidden fruit and shared it with her mate.

Eve was able to be tempted into sin because she allowed her focus to be turned to the one thing God had denied her, rather than focusing on everything He had given to her.  She was surrounded by a garden full of delicious fruits.  But the center of attention and desire became the one she was not allowed to have.

And here's the thing... haven't we all been there at some point?

We focus on what we think we need or are missing out on rather than on all the blessings constantly being bestowed on us.

The answer to this stumbling block?

Gratitude!

Taking constant inventory of everything good and wonderful which has been showered on us. Learning to be content with what we have rather than always looking for what we don't.  Learning to find the blessing and the joy in any circumstance. 

Ungrateful

I've got it pretty good.  We've got it pretty good.  And we don't even realize it.

This thought first started brewing as I stood in line to vote early in November.  The line was long for that last Saturday of early voting.  As I watched person after person get out of their car, check out the length of the wait, shake their head, and get back in the car.  Person after person grumble that they didn't have time to wait and get out of line to leave.

I began pondering what exactly this said about us as a nation.  There are people in the world who would give anything for the chance to vote.  People who walk miles and miles. People who stand in line for hours and hours and hours.  People who willingly risk their lives for the chance to vote.  Meanwhile, I watched literally dozens of people who couldn't be bothered to stand in line for one hour on a beautiful Saturday morning in order to exercise their right to vote.

Ungrateful.  Seeing as an inconvenience what others risk everything to grasp. 

Once the thought was there, I began to see examples of it everywhere.

My 14 years old son grumbles about having to go to school.  Meanwhile, a Pakistani girl his own age fights for her life after being shot in the head for simply wanting the same thing he complained about. 

I dread having to make a grocery list and do the shopping.  While so many in the world go hungry, wishing they were able to make a list and go to the store to purchase whatever they need or wanted to eat. 

How many other blessings do we fail to recognize?  Things we take for granted, which so many others in the world would view as a luxury.  Have we become so spoiled that we see things we should be grateful for as a bother?