Issue 835 – Gratitude – August 24, 2022
The faucet in the kitchen sink was leaking again last evening. Periodically one of the lines pops out of place, and a small flood happens under the sink.
I found myself mumbling about it as I went to grab some rags to sop up the water. I got a check in my spirit.
Remember when you were in Southeast Asia, and all the water had to be hauled in buckets and dumped through a sand and gravel bio-filter? What about all those people with no plumbing at all? Seventy-five percent of the local people had neither electricity nor running water.
Do you remember how grateful you were for the evening monsoon rain so you could stand under gutters and have a shower in the rainwater?
What about those South African shanty towns you visited, with one water spout for the entire village and people had to pay the local gang to buy water?
Do you remember house-sitting at your parent’s farm in the winter? With no indoor plumbing, that toilet seat got mighty cold. How about having to feed the wood stove to have heat?
Ouch! Several similar situations ran through my mind in an instant. Sometimes I forget how truly spoiled I am.
Oh, how easy it is to go from being grateful to ingratitude. It is easy to go from wildly passionate about something to taking it for granted.
During their time in the desert, the people of Israel had it down to an art.
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Numbers 11:4-6
They had every need provided for by God. The pillar of fire by night and cloud by day guided them and reminded them constantly of God’s presence in their lives. Yet they forgot and grumbled.
It is easy for us to shake our heads at “those Israelites” for being so blind. Yet, we are not so different. Look around you and see all that God has provided. It may not be everything our heart lusts after, but He has provided.
He has given us the gift of salvation, the only gift that lasts all eternity. He has given us life. He gives us the very air we breathe.
How often do we respond with indifference, ingratitude and whining to all of this? We must be thankful that He has not answered as He did to the Israelites. Their constant lack of faith and complaints eventually led to their death in the desert.
Look around you and see how blessed you are. Can you not think of anything? The very fact that you can read this message means you have it better than the bulk of this world’s population.
You have computer access (or someone who cares enough about you to print it out and give it to you) and can read (or have the software to read it to you). That puts you amongst the wealthiest people in the world.
Knowing Jesus as Savior puts you amongst the most privileged of people in the world for all of eternity.
Make a list of the things you have to be grateful for. Use it to remind yourself when you are having a pity party.
As the old song says, “Count your blessings. Name them one by one.” Then give thanks to God.
Until next time, take some time to be grateful.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed.
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
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