Yesterday afternoon, my kids were starting to get a little bit of cabin fever. It was hot, and the air had been smoky for most of the day, but by late afternoon, the air had cleared a bit and a cool breeze was blowing. “Why don’t you go outside and play, Johnny?” I suggested.
“There’s nothing to do!”
“You could ride your scooter or kick the soccer ball or pull weeds or throw your rocket football or play hide-and-seek with your brother or ride your bike or play with the hula hoop or look for bugs.”
“That’s boring.”
We have a great yard right now and a nice patio, and plenty of toys for the kids to play with. But they stop seeing that and see anything familiar as “boring.”
As I was thinking about how sad that was, I realized that I do the same thing! I focus on whatever is missing in my life at this moment and forget or discount the blessings that God has provided in my life. Just like Johnny!
This morning, I asked the congregation to think about their blessings and then asked how many had thought of something that hadn’t recognized as a blessing before. In one service, a bunch of people raised their hands. In the other, almost none.
We have a choice. We can be thankful for the blessings we have or we can decide that they’re
“boring” and concentrate on what’s not right. It’s a matter
of an “attitude of gratitude,” and life’s a lot more pleasant and satisfying that way.
