I’ve learned a few things in the past couple of years. One of them is that I can do a much better job of being content.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Corinthians 10:10,11).
In 2024, I want to stop complaining,
…about how my house is too big to clean. I may wake up one day and find that every corner and every nook is filled with someone else’s things. I needed the big.
…about how busy I am. I may wake up one day and find that my responsibilities have doubled. I just thought I was way busy.
…about how expensive groceries are. I may wake up one day and find that I need more groceries, weekly, than I have needed in the past twenty years. I had no idea of how much I could have been spending.
…about how we cannot seem to get to make the visits to the shut-ins or the nursing home. I may wake up and find that the visit is no longer optional. She is your husband’s mother and he is the only care-taker.
…about how hard it is to plan a family gathering. I may wake up one day and find that there are more complications than I ever dreamed even possible.
…about excessive laundry. I may wake up one day and find my laundry has tripled.
…about how dangerous the world is becoming. I may wake up one day and know that bombing is occurring just outside the door of my brother and sister’s house across the pond.
Life simply teaches me gratitude every day. This little list could go on and on. Perhaps this little list sounds ironically like complaining in itself. But it’s not complaining. It’s just reflecting to say that whatever it is that you find grievous or burdensome in your world today is a challenge for your heart. Let your heart wander to what life would be like if you didn’t have the big challenge of your life right now; whatever that current challenge is.
If my house wasn’t packed right now, my grandchildren would not be nearby.
If my responsibilities were not overwhelming right now, my opportunities for influence would not be maximized.
If I was not buying groceries in bulk right now, I would not be feeding children who are growing into servants for Him.
If my mother-in-law were not requiring multiple visits weekly, my grandchildren might not be learning the joys of service in an up-close and personal way.
If we were not working hard with schedules to arrange family gatherings, we might not have the blessed privilege of family support and fellowship in the tough challenges.
If the world were always peaceful and serene, our longing for heaven would not be so fervent and real.
The real lesson is, if things today seem more bleak than yesterday, I must always know in my heart that I’m in a good place. I am in His bundle of the living (I Samuel 25). He is going to work things out for me because I love him (Romans 8:28). He knows the end of every story and He knows just how to test and mold and fit me for heaven. Whatever tomorrow holds may not be as comfortable as today is, even considering the challenges of today. After all, Joseph thought he was in bad shape in the pit, but he didn’t yet know about the gypsies and the servanthood and the betrayal and the prison and the neglectful butler.
But in the world of His children, the last day, the day of death, as grim as that may be, is the best day. The last day is the best day. Because, the big victory is won on the last day. The house will be the perfect size. The jobs will all be done. The needs will all be met. The family gathering will all be arranged and the sicknesses will all be healed.
There’s really not a space for murmuring in my world. He has already delivered me, in advance, from every seemingly hopeless situation. Death and all its attendant sorrows has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).