Life is filled with challenges as well as blessings. We can often be quick to forget the blessings and be totally consumed with the challenges. Things like colds, mechanical breakdowns, buttons on a shirt, losing something, and I could go on and on. The challenges can come in waves tossing us to and fro. At times we get so focused on the challenges that the blessings of God get crowded out of the picture even though they are still there. God assures us that His blessings and mercies are new every single day. [Lamenations 3:22-23] “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
To top all of this off we in America are downright spoiled. We don’t like waiting in line at the fast food drive thrus, we don’t like standing in line at Walmart or the grocery store. We are impatient when it comes to technical difficulties with the cable or satellite and we can’t watch what we want to when we want to. It frustrates us when the car won’t crank. Life is a series of challenges.
Some time this past weekend we heard a horrific noise coming from the heater. I am no handyman and stood at the door not having a clue what to do. Before long, the heater simply quit working. You would have laughed if you could have seen me working to replace the air filters. It took me forever and a day to figure out how to get the access door open nearly breaking it in the process. Even that did not work. I watched helplessly as the temperature begin to drop. Periodically we would try the heater again but it simply was not working. The noises continued, the fan kept running but no heat was blowing. Degree by degree the temperature dropped mirroring the cold temperature outside.
I checked the temperature throughout the evening Friday night and Saturday and watched it plummet to a frigid fifty-one degrees. It was comical watching us huddle around in the living room; Brenda under two blankets and with her overcoat and gloves on, the boys snuggled up in blankets, and me with a toboggan and gloves on at one point plus a sweat shirt. My attitude though was not laughing. I was frustrated and missing the greater blessing of God providing us with a home and the comfort of knowing we purchased the home warranty and so are in good shape as far as financial concerns.
Last night was down right cold. I slept in a sweat-shirt, with socks on, and under two blankets which never happens. I like it cold but the low fifties in the house was challenging. Even Anna Belle snuggled nose first down underneath the covers toward my knees. I do not know how she kept from suffocating but even she was cold.
Then it dawned on me. There are people who live in those conditions and worse every winter. They do not have even the slightest bit of clothing heavy enough to take away the bitter chill of the blustery winter winds that can cut to the bone. There are people who live in homes so poorly insulated that water in the toilets can freeze over. How many do not have the luxury of hot coffee or a steaming cup of hot tea or hot chocolate to warm the body?
My challenge is temporary. I know it will not last. The repairman is supposed to come today and tonight I can look forward to relaxing in the warmth of my family as well as our home. Why am I so quick to forget the blessings and to complain about the challenges? Isn’t God the Lord over both? I have not truly learned the lesson that Paul learned in [Phil 4:11-12] “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”
I confess I read those scriptures and my heart sinks because I know that I am not there yet. I know how to be content in my circumstances when everything is going my way but that was not the attitude Paul is proposing. Read again slowly. He says he learned to be content in “whatever circumstances I am.” That means that he took both the blessings and the challenges in stride. He goes on to write, “in any and every circumstance.” He could eat sumptuously and rejoice in the Lord as well as go to bed with hunger pangs and still rejoice in the Lord. He could have abundance all around him and even do without but neither circumstance could add to or subtract from the true joy he had in Jesus Christ. Whether he had to combat poverty or manage prosperity he was still content in Christ.
O how I need to learn this lesson. We have blankets, sleeping bags, sweat shirts, toboggans, gloves, robes, hot food and drink, access to repairmen, and all I could do is sink inwardly into a frustrated and irritable state rather than finding joy in the Lord. I know how much my attitude can affect everyone else in my home. I want to be a person of faith with a Christ like perspective and attitude.
This whole chapter in my life only goes to show me how very very far I am from being the man God wants to me to be. If a little thing like heat can rob my joy how would I deal with the bigger issues of life like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, or death? I am like a spoiled child and how I must disappoint the Lord. I can rejoice in this one fact, my sin has been revealed, confessed, forgiven, and now I can move on.
Should the repair people not get it fixed today I will turn this frigid night into a learning opportunity for my boys and an adventure. I will pretend we are camping and sleep in the living room in our sleeping bags. I will remind them of the people who often have nothing more than a cardboard box to shield them from the cold while we have warm pajamas and sleeping bags. I will rejoice in the Lord again for the home He has blessed my family with cold or warm. I will rejoice in my salvation and that I will never be cold in Heaven even for a moment.
Jesus, I ask you to forgive me for being such a spoiled brat. I know I must frustrate you at times. I ask you to forgive me for whining about the challenges and not rejoicing in You more for the blessings. I beg of you to give me the heart of Paul so that I can rejoice in you and be content no matter what my circumstances are. Thank you for this firm but gentle reminder. I choose to rejoice no matter what happens today. Help me to learn this lesson in the core of my being. I ask you to renew my attitude and help me be the man who leads my family to celebrate the blessings and learn from challenges rejoicing in You in both. Though I might face the frigid again I beg of you to help me overcome being spoiled. I do not deserve what you have given me but I thank you for this wake up call today. I might be frigid but I choose not to act spoiled.
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