Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Complaining in Perspective




For Christmas, my boys got a Wii. It keeps them occupied and I like the total physical involvement it creates with the sports games. They have game "tickets" they can use throughout the day and it's going pretty well. There haven't been any major fights and the baby has only gotten knocked over a couple of times by arms swinging the controllers. If it were up to them, they'd play it all day long. But I have this funny rule about how school trumps Wii time and if I say it's time to do a certain subject they have to pause their game and come do it. Such was the case this morning. David willingly paused his game to do math facts with me. Well, Will came through the room, saw the game was on and turned it off, not knowing that David had his game paused. When David found that out, you would have thought the world had just collapsed. He went on and on about the injustice of it. Honestly, he had this event ranked up there right alongside black slavery and the Cherokee Trail of Tears!




I'd been doing some complaining on my own today - not aloud, but in my head. I caught a cold and it finally erupted last night. I have the stuffy head, sore throat - the whole works. I have a zit on my jawbone. At 37, I thought my zit days were over! I'm not happy about our new president. I sure wish Paul would get the work on this house done. I'm tired of looking at drywall. And I need a bigger house anyway. And our van is falling apart. It's about to cross the 200,000 mile mark and the automatic sliding door quit working last weekend - it's joining the passenger side door handle, back wiper, and windshield wiper fluid pump who are all also protesting the fact we are still driving this van - still drivable, but more of a pain to do so. I have lots to moan and groan about. And let's not forget my missing keys and my super busy day tomorrow - more reasons yet to moan!




But... I don't have any reason to complain, not really. Not if I'm honest with myself. A cold? Good grief. I have a girlfriend my age that has been battling cancer for 3 years. A zit? Give me a break. And even my house and poor van - I have more luxury in owning those 2 items than 75% of the world has today. The reason my keys are missing is because we have been blessed with a curious toddler and I wouldn't trade that for anything. And my busy day tomorrow? Thank God I have the freedom and energy to get up and to the things that need to be done. And even with this inauguration today - a friend pointed out to me how fortunate we are to live in a country where the transfer of power is done peaceably and without bloodshed. Even if we don't agree with the new leadership, we still have the freedom to speak our mind about it without fear of arrest or torture.




Poor David and his video game. I think I need to sit down with him and explain just how good he really has it.


Philippians 2:14-15 "Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

3 comments:

  1. Sarah:
    OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!! You have no idea how happy this maketh me. I have always craved your witty "laying it out there" style of wisdom. I will check in with you often. Now.. for another nag.. have you started your book? I will so buy it, hey I'd buy two books you authored. Don't let the statistics drown your hopes.. the Christian novel field is booming right now (plus your name with your maiden name sounds really cool and then I can say I know someone famous!). so get writing!!!!!!

    Smiles
    Jennifer Peterson Heubner

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  2. I am so lucky to be able to tune into your 'ramblings'. I am from the afutureandahope yahoo group and truly enjoy reading your blog. Thanks for sharing your life, with all of it's ups and downs. I also have a blog - howsefamilyhappenings.blogspot.com come on by and visit if you would like. I love blogging and see it as my sanity and virtual scrapbook. I hope you love doing it as much as I do.

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  3. your a great writer........kids give us zits....and i can't lie...video games make me emmotional,lol

    Alyce

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