"I cannot believe there is only a trickle of water coming out of the facet again. I NEED to do laundry!"
"Bill, power is out! I'm going to have to take a cold shower AGAIN."
"It takes so much time to cook here."
Have you ever caught yourself saying something similar to the above statements? I did the other day. The power had been out more than usual. When the power goes out a lot, our water from the city comes to a trickle, or sometimes stops altogether. I was frustrated that we were again without water. Then came my worker, Pendo. I asked her about their water situation, and she begins to tell me that they haven't had a drop of water in two weeks. She has to arise early in the morning, before coming in for a full day of work, in order to walk a distance to carry water back to her house. After this conversation I took a walk and saw a bunch of women down at the lake gathering water for their families. It was then that it hit me...
PERSPECTIVE
You see, I tend to compare my life with those who live in the Western world. (First mistake. 2 Corinthians 10:12c says - "and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.") So I was getting frustrated about the lack of water, knowing that my friends in America have water aplenty. I mean really, how many times in my life, when living in America, did I go to turn on the facet and wonder if water was going to come out?
PERSPECTIVE
God used the situation with my worker and my neighbor ladies gathering water at the lake to get my attention. I realized that morning that rather than grumbling about what I thought was my "right" to have water each and every time I went to my facet, that I should be thankful for how God has blessed me with water at all. (Second mistake. Philippians 2:14 says - "Do all things without murmurings and disputings:") To top it off, even if water doesn't come out of my facet, God has blessed us to have an underground water tank and even a small above ground tank. If I come to the place of no water in the house I can still haul in buckets of water from those tanks. So in reality, I'm not out of water. I'm just used to the ease of turning on my facet and watching it pour out.
PERSPECTIVE
What about you? What is your PERSPECTIVE today?
5 comments:
Awesome word, Tammy! This is something that I have to remind myself of constantly. It is so easy to get tunnel-vision when I am going through a tough situation and start to complain. Those are times that I really have to pull away and focus on Him - in His presence is fullness of joy! THAT is when I am content! Thanks for the post! I didn't know you were blogging. You should post on facebook every time you blog. :-)
Such a great post, and so true! I find myself doing that...especially with the water situation this week! Thanks for the encouragement!
Kami
Thanks for the much needed encouragement. It's so easy to lose focus of what we're doing and why.
Thanks. I needed this today.
Great post, Tammy, that I think a LOT of us can relate to. I've lost count of how many times we have been without water or electricity. But, what a test of our attitudes when we are going through those "trials"! Thank you for this great reminder and encouragement, to keep it all in the right perspective.
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