and the carpet has got to go, and everything is an enormous mess and inconvenience, and all you can think about is adding more to the credit card balance that you thought you were going to pay off, it's easy to start feeling a little sorry for yourself.
"Oh, why now? Why us?"
Well ... why not now? And why not us? Would I wish this on someone else? And, while I'm at it, how about if I incorporate a little perspective here?
Let's see. Some estimates tell us that as many as a billion people are suffering from hunger and malnutrition in the world today. Thousands of people die daily from hunger and hunger-related causes. Millions of children around the world will go to bed with aching bellies tonight, in shelter that is inadequate, in conditions that are less-than-sanitary. Many of them have only one parent. Or no parent.
What do I have? I have a home, most of which is dry. I have hot and cold running water inside that home, an enormous luxury that even in the 21st century, many human beings will never know. I not only have enough food in our pantry to make a meal tonight, I have chocolate to assuage a chronic (sinful?) craving. I have luxuries beyond compare.
Years ago, before I became a Christian, I read a book called The Upside Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill. In it, he urges Christians to always look down the social and economic ladder, rather than up. That notion has always remained with me. "Looking up" leads to jealousy, envy, greed and unhappiness. Looking down reminds me that not only am I materially blessed beyond all deserving, but that I have a grave responsibility to share those material blessings with everyone down the ladder.
Our home is humble. By American standards, we are middle-class and not particularly well-off. We live on one teacher's income, with occasional bonuses from my freelancing (which never feel like bonuses, as there's always a bill due.) We do without many things by modern American standards. But I try to see our home, our life, our world by standards that are larger and harder to grasp than American ones. I try to see with the eyes of Heaven.
Jesus's kingdom values what the world does not. The Lord doesn't really care what kind of home I have, or what the carpet costs,or that my couch is twenty years old and rather threadbare, or that one of our vehicles has 220,000 miles on it. He cares about my perspective on those things. Am I ungrateful? Covetous? Or do I thank Him every day for that couch and that car, for central heating, for health insurance, for luxurious chocolate in the pantry and chicken in the freezer? Am I sharing any and all of it?
This week, some carpet retailer will try to sell me the most beautiful and plush floor covering I can possibly (or maybe not) afford. I'll tell him this is what I want: functional, durable, clean, and just pretty enough to make my little girls happy. And, even with such minimal requirements, I'll be remembering what an incredible luxury is that carpet, our vehicles, our credit card, and our home, which by the standards of much of the world, is luxurious indeed. And I will thank God for such small inconveniences as water in the basement, because they remind me of my riches, and help me not to take them for granted.
Instead of bemoaning the credit card balance, I should see where we can trim our budget and how much more money we could be giving away each month. I should, always, look down the ladder and never forget my brothers and sisters there ... the ones I can help to pull up, with the help and the love of Christ as my strength.
6 comments:
Amen! Karen.
So worth reading...and so worth mentioning.
Thank you for a beautiful post.
What a wonderful reminder! We strive to not be materialistic, but sometimes in this culture it seeps into our being without our even noticing. This too was why I couldn't be a Pampered Chef. I couldn't talk people into buying some gizmo that would do a job for $50 that they could do with a $5 knife. Sometimes I feel positively unAmerican, but wait that's a good thing right? At least in this context it is.
BTW, we ditched the carpet last time and went for relatively inexpensive parquet flooring instead. It probably was more expensive than cheap carpet, but it will last longer, so it will be less expensive in the end. Besides it's better for allergies. I'm not sure which is better with the threat of water in the basement. I might go with vinyl flooring and throw around some area rugs.
It's always something with a house, right? Sorry to hear about it, Karen. I hope you are keeping your perspective (sounds like you are). I read the Upside Down Kingdom too (guess you and I got it from the same person, huh?) and I have trouble keeping that thought in mind when all my mind wants to do is complain, moan, then write about it in my blog.
Oh Karen, I'm so sorry. This happened to us in October (I blogged it http://bonnybluehouse.blogspot.com/2005/10/ceaseless-rain-is-falling-fast.html) and I deeply sympathize. Something like this really keeps you focused on what is important in life. Not the stuff but God and family. When you really know that (as you do) these little disasters become much easier to bear. God bless.
Our basement floods every spring. So sorry you are going through this. Thanks for the thoughtful post.
I can empathize and also feel the shame of my attitude oat the time.
My roof got damaged and the contractor sent by the insurance company scammed the job (after convincing me to let him do the whole roof).
I spent 2 years fighting with my (justifiably annoyed) second floor tenants, leakes that made it all the way to the first floor, the carpenters ants that feed on wet wood, and the contractor (thru lawyers, letters, and threats) before they finally replaced their shoddy work.
Yet, when I think back on my rage at the time, I am very sad. How much worse I could have had it.
Like you, I think on those who have nothing but their hunger pangs for company and feel shame. How about those poor people in LA, MS, AL, whose homes were wiped away and who are still fighting to have their lives back.
The horrible pain of the hundreds of thousand who lost everything and often everyone dear to them when the waves came in Asia.
I remember the face of the man in the Philippines whose wife youngest children were wiped away in his home, before his eyes. They showed him standing in the place where he believes the rest of his children are buried in their school.
So much suffering, the bodies of those slain by terrorists in Iraq, Israel, 911, Columbia, North Korea, and a thousand other places we never think about every day.
I am ashamed of my self-centeredness and for all of us here.
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