iIt is so easy to take things for granted. Let's take a look at a few things. First we are based in California. Our weather in the Sacramento region is spectacular. We don't get a lot of winter conditions here. So when we talk to our relatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota they are amazed that there can actually be a winter crop of edible produce. On top ot that, we find that when we go through summer with a number of 100 degree temperature days it is not the high heat with high humidity of Alabama where my sister lives. Our locals love to say "It's a dry heat!"
We then have the blessings of the food that is grown and available here. I was on my family Zoom meeting and mentioned we were going to stir-fry some asparagus. My Minnesota cousins were blown away we could get asparagus.
We live in a society that has housing standards that are among the best in the world. This includes our living spaces along with the cars we drive and our freeway system.
We live in a country in which we can worship as we wish and speak our voice out about what we believe. This is not a common thing in much of the world. There are still countries in which saying the wrong thing can be followed by disappearing.
Our country has been blessed with borders that have not been heavily involved with war since the great Civil War.
Thus each day our lives are filled with thousands of reasons to be filled with gratitudes. Yet we can so caught up in the whining of life.
Now I do want to make one thing perfectly clear. There are some days and some situations when I step back for a moment and whine and whine and whine. I am filled with frustration and challenge and everything seems to be failing. At that very point, the presence of God in my life seems very far away. I mean I know He is there but only as a hint far off in the distance.
It is at moments like that I am blessed to have the support system I have and the people I share life with. It is often at that point that my wife looks at me and asks the proverbial question "Do you want cheese and crackers with your whine?"
That's when spiritual practices can bring balance for us. The practices are deeply personal to each one of us. My beloved loves to do daily 5 minutes of quiet on the back patio in our yard. I like to turn on my bubble machine and watch the bubbles blow off the patio into the sky until the entire backyard is filled with bubbles. How can one whine with all the bubbles?
Never are we without God - even if we can't tell. Take a breath this very moment and know you're in the midst of a team effort - and you have the best team ever........
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