Dumped On, AKA, Winter Wonderland

It’s been an atrocious winter. We’ve had just about every mix of precipitation known to man since before the calendar even turned to the first day of winter. Schools have been closed, leaving parents scrambling to find child care at the last minute. Power outages abound, causing families to hunker down in unheated houses, while food spoils in stocked refrigerators. People all over the East Coast are muddling through but in truth, we’re starting to feel dumped on.

Yet, in the midst of all this inconvenience, the scenery is magnificent. The trees glisten, but with heaps of frozen snow that threaten to sever limbs from trunks, forcing us to contend with downed wires and damaged property. The landscape is truly grand, a silvery marvel, but at the same time, it makes traveling hazardous and unpredictable. There surely are two sides to this wintry weather.

In contemplating these paradoxes, I find parallels in my attitudes. I have so many blessings in my life, yet I’ve been taking others’ inventory (12 step program-speak for passing judgment) on a frequent basis. A neighbor who has come through in the clutch on numerous occasions criticizes rather than showing appreciation for my kindness; nothing new, it’s her usual M.O, as if she would somehow be diminished by expressing thanks. So why am I dwelling on it? A friend is a bit demanding; yet this same friend has been a godsend when my heart has needed it most. Why don't I focus on that? A car wash business does a shoddy job, then refuses to make good on it; there is no up side to this one, but must I let it ruin my day?

I guess my point is that it’s way too easy to miss the good stuff for the muck.

But none of this should surprise me. We humans are nothing if not shortsighted. God created a glorious garden, and our first parents tossed it away for a piece of fruit. Esau traded his firstborn privileges for a bowl of stew.  Moses’s newly freed campers looked back longingly on the provisions they received while living in merciless Egyptian servitude. If the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare postulated, we actors keep rerunning the same play. We let grumbling supersede gratitude, and gain only misery.

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” 

1 Timothy 6:6-8