It was 10:00 at night and i was laying there listening to some comedian rattle off some of America's problems in a very humorous manner. While the piece itself was supposed to make you laugh (which it did) I couldn't help but find truth in what he was saying. While I don't remember the exact wording what he basically said was this,
"We're the wealthiest nation and we still find things to complain about."
Yes, I realize there was nothing humorous about that. I leave it to the comedians to be funny. But what he said was very true. We're a very spoiled nation. Look at us walking around with our iPhone's and Blackberries. Twitter, email, Facebook and chat at just the touch of a button. And we Still complain about what we don't have. And we still whine about what we want. Truth is, we might just be able to learn something from that comedian.. how about maybe.. practicing gratitude? I have everything I need, food to eat, a bed to sleep on, clothes to wear. I have a phone that works and a roof to live under. What more do I possibly need? Well, nothing really. But let's look at it this way.. What more do I want? I remember when I got my first iPod. I was about 12 years old and I remember being super happy because I paid for half of it myself. I remember my dad telling me how my infatuation with this new device wouldn't last long because sooner or later something else would come along that I would like even more. Of course I denied this, but it was only a matter of time. Dad was right, as he usually is..
But this time it wasn't a new iPod I was after, it was a cell phone. At this time.. my parents were adamantly against the cell phone. "Maybe 8th grade" they told me. And I could do is wait. 2 years later and I was probably one of the only people in 8th grade without a cell phone. If I had been homeschooled, it probably wouldn't have mattered as much, but you know that thing called peer pressure? Well it got to me. They finally decided to let me have one at the end of my 8th grade year right before my Washington D.C school field trip. It was a "go phone" .. nothing fancy, but it could call people and at the time that was good enough for me. It was definitely my parents pay of teaching me to budget my own money (I was the one paying for it). I thought I was content and for a while I was until I got bored of that phone. My parent's are certainly not one for giving me what I want for the sole reason that I want it, but I guess they realized that I had learned my budgeting lesson and so we went and I bought a new one a year later.
While I could go on and on with that story, the main point here was that I didn't stay content for long. Instead of simply being thankful for what I already had, I dreamed of things I still wanted. When I visited China a few years back I saw with my own eyes what it's like to live in an impoverished third world country and I felt slightly ashamed. We have everything we could possibly need, and some of these people didn't even have an adequate roof to shield them from the unpredictable weather. I don't want to make anyone feel bad, but I think we should realize how truly blessed me and stop taking all of our luxuries for granted. We have the most amazing God watching over us.. Why are we sitting around wishing for things when we has given us exactly what we need?
Matthew 6:26-30 says,
"Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? "
Let's practice gratitude.
{Conner Danielle}
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