Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Perspective

         We complain about the weather, our children, our husbands, our jobs, our houses,our cell-phone service, the government, the neighbors, our in-laws, our pets, dust....and countless other things. We live in the United States of America one of the richest countries in the world, if not the richest, with the highest standard of living on the planet; Infant mortality is one of the lowest, life expectancy is one of the highest,  medical care is the best, potable water is on tap for everyone, grocery stores are loaded with myriad choices of every kind of food in every kind of brand; We have freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to be educated, freedom to vote for whom we wish, freedom to marry, freedom to have children and raise them, freedom to start a business, freedom to work, freedom to travel within our country, freedom to leave our country and mostly we have freedom from the terrors of war within our own borders.

         From the perspective of my new sister in-law from Turkey, Americans are huge complainers and she cannot understand why.  In her country the people, living in much more meager conditions then us, rarely complain unless there really is something to complain about; it has to be very serious indeed before they will utter any kind of complaint.

        When I heard my sister in-law's criticism I realized how much I complain and this spring I caught myself numerous times whining about the weather. I am really not saying the USA is perfect by any means, but we do have much to be thankful for and I for one have tried to tame my whining tongue choosing instead to see the positive.

        I'm trying to become more thankful for the many, many blessings I have, my family has, and my country has.  I don't need to focus on the drippy faucet in my kitchen, but on the fact that I have clean hot and cold running water! I don't need to complain about the dust in my house because I should be grateful that I have a house at all. I shouldn't complain about my daughter's messy room but rather be grateful that she's not doing drugs or living on the street.

        When I read about people undergoing true hardships, some in our country, many in other poorer countries I begin to realize just how blessed we are. For a true picture of what some people must go through just to get daily water to drink, (and not always clean) read Richard Stearn's The Hole in Our Gospel. It will give you and your life an entire new perspective.

www.theholeinourgospel.com

1 comment:

  1. Valerie,
    This is one of your best posts! You did a great job explaining/sharing/questioning/confronting/encouraging.

    Just beautiful. And thanks for the tip. I'm off to check it out. I'm going to tweet this.

    ReplyDelete