Gratitude
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| "Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God," --Psalm 50.14 NLT |
Last night I came home
To a sight that I noticed but did not think too much of. I saw the President of my neighborhood community flat on his stomach, digging a hole. This is not uncommon because my dumpy little community does things on the cheap. They fix rooftops themselves, they re-did the stairs, the "grounds crew" is sub-par, etc...
However, when I entered my home, walked the dogs, returned & tried to wash my hands, I noticed the problem--no water.
The men we digging in order to repair a busted pipe. This lack of water immediately cramped our style. No hand-washing. No tap water to drink. No workout because there may be no shower. You realize the little conveniences of modernity only when they go missing. (Modernity loosely used here, knowing that the ancient Greeks & Romans even had running water in their homes, but not me last night!)
We ate supper & settled into watching Blue Like Jazz, which just came out on DVD last week. During the movie, my wife noted that they were getting louder outside. Her exact quote was, "There are 10 Cubans outside yelling at a pipe!" I thought they were having a normal discussion with the pipe, but I digress on cultural stereotypes.
About 30 minutes into the movie there came a knock, knock on my door. Sure enough, it was a loud Cuban, letting me know that the water should be on soon. I said thanks, proceeded to test it. No water yet. In fact, there would be no water for the next 20 minutes. Knock, knock. This time the president was at my door, all dirty & apologetic. He asked if I had water yet, I said no. He poceeded to explain what happened.
Apparently,
The tree was too heavy for the PVC pipeline that carried our water. The PVC cracked & needed to be replaced, which he did. Allegedly, our line was still having problems after he filled the hole in. Our home, our next-door neighbor & the downstairs neighbor were the only homes with no water. It was too late for him to get back in there to fix the problem. We were going to be without water all night.
That means one flush per toilet for the night (3 toilets to satisfy your curiosity). No shower. 2 episodes of Brushing My Teeth Without Water. My wife & I were distraught. And, like any good member of the Millennial generation, we took to Twitter & Facebook to let the world know how frustrated we were.
"I Like Running Water"
It was intended as a complaint in an ironic, mordant manner. While true, what I was getting at was the fact that I have none & am pissed about it. Bam! Tweet your heart out, suckers. I refreshed the page so I can view my acerbic tweet in all it's glory & what do I find?
"The things you take for granted someone else is praying for."
That will humble you. It humbled me. How self-absorbed was I? Here I am. With a full belly. With powerful electricity running in my walls. Electricity to power my television. Electricity to power my Blu-Ray Player. Electricity to power my Air Conditioning. And I'm complaining about water?
What about people who travel miles upon miles for what would amount to half a day's ration of water? What about people who are enduring oppressive famines that have no water for crops? I can run to the grocery store and grab water--or just melt my ice.
People are praying for water, no matter how it comes. I am concerned with convenience.
Jesus dealt with ungrateful people
He dealt with lepers in Luke 17. He healed 10 of them. They had no more spots! They were integrated into society again. What a blessing! What incredible healing. The lepers were given a second chance to live their first life.
Only one of the 10 returned to Jesus to give thanks. Scripture honors this man for his gratitude--he doesn't even become a follower of Jesus per se! Jesus' inquiry about the other 9 haunts me today. Where are they?
I am here, Lord. Thank you for your blessings. I'm sorry that I took them for granted.