Have you ever had one of those times where you KNOW you are being a brat, but you just couldn’t help yourself? That’s where I found myself this morning. I came face to face with my inner princess mentality and it wasn’t pretty.
Two events occurred Sunday that started the snowball of discontent and grumbling for me. The first seemed innocent enough. We went walking through open houses. It wasn’t even intentional. Ric wanted to check out a new neighborhood and they had some of the houses open, so we went through them. They were huge and gorgeous and smelled good.
Now, this seems innocent enough, but it was kind of like the misstep David took by not going to war. No, I didn’t commit adultery and kill someone as a result of walking through the houses, but I started getting impatient. This is not good when God’s grace has given me peace with taking a year to pay off debt and THEN get a house. The impatience was very subtle, but it was there. Building.
The other event was that Temple had a water treatment plant emergency. We weren’t allowed to use our water for a short period of time. That was weird, but ok. Whatever. It ended fairly quickly. What did not end quickly (and is STILL going on) is a boil order.
As a result of the boil order we aren’t allowed to let the water get in our mouth or open sores. That just seems a bit disturbing to me. I can do laundry, but if I want to do dishes, I have to use bleach water or boiled water. Oh, and I have to sponge bathe the baby so he doesn’t get water in his mouth. Whatever.
It is just stupid and this morning I was annoyed. I found myself in a rant to my mother that in hindsight equated to my high school rant of “why did my nail have to break??? Bad things always happen to me”.
The truth is, I will have clean water again very soon. I am fine living in my mother’s brand new house. I am a brat. It is ugly.
According to World Vision, more than 4000 children die from “water and sanitation-related issues”. On the Family Promise website I learned that “families comprise nearly 40% of all who are homeless”.
I could go on and on and on with statistics that are heartbreaking. I won’t. What I am going to do is quote a song that is on my heart. It is actually a hymn. Those from the Independent Baptist circles or those over 35 are familiar with hymns. As I was singing this song to myself, I realized my “conflict” is really just an inconvenience.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Count your Blessings, John Oatman, JR