I have been visiting a friend who I haven't seen in a few years this weekend and it was lovely to catch up on what her family is doing, to see her children grown up and going to Uni now and to chat with her husband, who I worked with once upon a time. I came away challenged, though, around the fact that I have a tendency to complain a lot. I am never quite satisfied with the work I am doing or the money I have saved or just where things are at in general. To quote another friend of mine, they are all 'first world problems' and I really have nothing much to complain about at all. It is good to dream and to plan for the future but I think I need to be careful about the way that I talk, the things I say, my thought life and also about my attitude in general. I believe it is ok to complain to the right people about the things that are not quite working in the hope that they will be addressed, but it needs to be done in the right way at the right time and directed at the right people with a solid relationship backing it up. Maybe it has just become a habit for me to some degree.....?
On the other side of that I have felt encouraged this weekend, as I left my car interior light on overnight (the battery went flat), and a lovely gentleman at the motel I was staying at got out his jumper leads and set the problem straight again. It was no bother, he explained it all to me, and his attitude was super helpful, engaging, cheerful and encouraging. His wife (who seemed to come and go a few times in the car) was much the same. It is a much better way to live life!! Our thoughts and words and actions have such an important effect on other people. Needless to say, the place I was staying overnight was also fully booked. Maybe what I witnessed is a city/country thing to some degree too?? I love getting out of the city for this reason.
Anyway the challenge has been set. I plan to watch my words and my thoughts and to engage in thanksgiving, affirmation and encouragement just a bit more. I will see how it goes. A good place to start is in my relationship with God. To recognise his Goodness, provision and faithfulness in my life and in his nature as well. I was just listening this morning to a bible reading about the Israelites. They were good at grumbling, but the God who brought them out of slavery and promised them a land flowing with mild and honey, is faithful. They weren't particularly gracious about the whole thing or faithful, but God is! He led them through the wilderness for 40 years, provided manna from heaven and quails to eat and encouraged them when they most needed it.
Deuteronomy 8: 6 -10
Observe the commands of theLord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Deuteronomy 11:13-16
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.
Deuteronomy 28: 2-6
All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
How hard was it for the Israelites to trust God with their future, with their attention, and with their lives? They failed The Lord, even though they had the pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, and they had marched right out of Egypt with Moses through the parted Red Sea.
How hard is it for me to recognise the good things of life and give God the thanks and praise? Harder than you might expect... I am really very blessed, and I believe that is a spritual thing, to some degree - much like the promises above. I have grown up in a predominantly Christian nation that largely holds Christian values and my ancestors also worshiped God. Church and Christianity has been a large part of my life from the beginning. But like the Israelites, it is easy for me to take things for granted, to not quite be satisfied and to take my eyes off my Creator, Lord and Saviour. For that is the place He likes to take in our lives.
So what to do about it?? I guess I have set the above scriptures before my eyes, and just for today I will choose to affirm and encourage someone, to give instead of take, and to give God my thanks and praise. I really do believe that he is simply Good. It is real.
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