Great and Full or Grateful?

We have a problem with gratitude.

Years ago a bunch of us made a goofy little video about what a new and improved man might look like. At the end, one of the summary statements was that he would have "less attitude, more gratitude." 

There have been times for me when that is true, where thankfulness and appreciation and gratitude come naturally. However, that isn't always the case. 

In reading through Deuteronomy, a book about a pivotal time in the history of Israel where they were moving from the desert to enter the promise of God, there are a few statements that stand out to me. Most notable are the almost word for word repetitions of "when you eat and are satisfied." (Deut. 6:11, 8:10, 8:12, 11:15)

Why did they stand out? 

Not because I'm hungry, but because I'm overfed. 

It's hard to know want when you're over satisfied. The people of Israel knew want. The generation listening to Moses were born during a 40 year road trip through harsh wilderness. A wilderness that Moses describes as: "a vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions." (Deut. 8:15)  

After each use of "when you eat and are satisfied" comes a warning. "Do not forget the Lord."

Why, because at first when you move into a city you did not build, or eat the food from a pantry you did not stock, or drink water from a well you did not dig, you are filled with gratitude and readily thank the provider. However, over time the tendency is to begin thinking that the true provide is not God but the one who maintains the city, the food supply, and the well. 

That is fine if we continually recognize that God is the maintainer. 

Too often we see the efforts we put in and think the maintenance is up to us.  Then it becomes the city we have built, the food we have provided, the well we have dug. And we begin living Bart Simpson's prayer: "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves. So thanks for nothing." 

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God." (Deut. 8:10-11a)

"When you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Deut. 6:11b-12)

Now, this relates to more than food but to spouses, children, homes, vehicles, relationships, and countless other ways the Lord has provided. 

How then does one continually recognize them as gifts lovingly provided and avoid the trap of looking at my kids and thinking yeah, I made that, or my wife and responding I put a ring on that, or my house and lamenting I'm signing away my pay cheques for that, or my car and worrying will I eventually wreck that? 

The Israelites wrote reminders on the door frames of their houses, and strapped them to their bodies, and built altars where they sacrificed. Their worship was all related to remembering that God is the provider. 

For the Israelites, and for us, to remember well meant writing something down, reading something daily, reciting something throughout the day. There was a physicality to remembering. The eyes saw, the ears heard, the tongue twisted, the hands carried, erected and prepared. 

I can't say that I've been through a wilderness like the Israelites. I have had my own experiences of being without, of waiting for the Lord to fulfill his promises, but no land of snakes and scorpions. I am in a place of absolute abundance, all because that is where the Lord has placed me. 

I am usually great.

I am always full. 

I'm not always grateful.

If there are some of you rocking the gratitude share your secrets? What have you done to maintain focus on God as your provider? 

"Listen, O Israel! the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

On Weddings

It was Valentine's Day yesterday.*

Chances are, you either know someone who just got engaged, has been engaged for a while, or is about to become engaged.

All of that is to say, you're about to go to a wedding.

Wedding season is closing in.

It seems as though I've been to a lot of weddings, with one as recently as this past December, and another one coming up in March. All this has got me thinking about some of the different weddings I've been to. Some have been a blast, and some not so much. What makes one fun and the other a test of endurance?

You might feel differently about these things than I, but here is a chart that's been pretty helpful, and accurate, at predicting how much fun I'll have at a wedding. And if you find yourself trying to decide which box to check on the RSVP, perhaps this will help you decide.

*I thought I should point that out in case you missed it.

Tagging Along For a Journey

Every play TriBond?

What do these three things have in common:

1. learning why sitting in the front seat of a cab is Argentina is a bad idea

2. watching a tow truck get stuck in a ditch while trying to rescue you

3. L&P

They're all experiences/lessons from travels.

I love travelling.

Some of my best stories come from traveling.

When Sheena and I were talking about what life steps we wanted to accomplish before we had kids, travelling was the only thing on my list. We still have goals that involve travelling. There are parts of the planet, and cultures that we desire to experience. We are not satisfied with simply reading about them.

What I often overlook is that hosting travelers is the next best thing to going on the journey with them.

When you host a traveler you get invited into their journey. As you hear their stories of the places they've been you are taken back to the times you've been there too. And what's more as they tell you of where they are yet to go you get excited with them and at the prospect that you might one day go there too.

Last night we hosted some travelers.

Hearing their stories was wonderful.

But better yet, was being there as they experience something new.

This morning I woke up to snow. No big deal it snows in Canada. I've woken up to snow lots. I used to get excited about that. When I was a kid I would get excited, but today not so much.

You know where it doesn't snow?

Uganda.*

Guess where our visitors were from....Uganda.

It's been years since I enjoyed snow that much. And it was gross snow too. It was the greasy, wet stuff that is normally super irritating.

But none of that matters when you're a boy who's never seen snow before.

You'd think it was Christmas the way they ran around screaming with delight. I got a sled out and they rode down the driveway. The driveway was too short to get real speed so they pushed each other. The pusher, however, would often hold on for the ride killing any speed gained. Then they'd laugh as they crashed into the house.

Even brushing snow off the cars was enjoyable.

Oh, and it took zero seconds for the boys to start throwing snow balls. That was awesome too.

*You were thinking Vancouver Olympics weren't you. I know you were.

Second Night

Last night marked the second night in our home.

It’s been an interesting move in experience. Mostly good, but we found a few eye brow raisers in the process.

When I walked into our new home for the first time, full of anticipation, I expected to find certain things: an empty house being one of them.

I didn’t expect to find piles of dirt on the floor, clothes in the closet, random grapes scattered here and there, and imperfections everywhere a piece of furniture used to be: especially, when the family had been doing renovations. And they only painted what could be seen.

I have two possibly hypotheses:

1) Everything they learned they learned by watching the Mr. Bean show. So, when it came to learning how to paint they wanted to replicate his painting techniques. Those involved papering anything you didn’t want paint on and blowing up a can of paint in the middle of the room. Walls on the other side of the couch would not have been painted.

2) They treat their house the way so many of us run our live our lives. Why paint behind the book shelve? No one will ever see back there. It doesn’t need to look nice. The base boards behind the couch don’t need to be painted. We don’t even need them behind the kid’s beds. Let’s just take care of the parts people see. Why deal with my tendency to judge people? No one ever sees that. And why should it matter what I think? No one ever sees my thoughts.

How often do we only worry about how we look on the outside and let our insides fall apart?

Sadly, I do this all the time. I invest in clothes, shoes, haircuts, grooming products so that my physical appearance looks as best it can. I also spend ridiculous amounts of time watching what I say so that I don’t say something that makes me look dumb. However, I spend considerably less time on the areas that no one sees.

Maybe that’s the issue. I think no one sees them. I forget, or maybe don’t care so much, that God sees them. Sometimes, I even find myself thinking God’s as okay with it as I am: that it doesn’t matter to God how well maintained I am.

But God not only sees, He knows, all of me. He’s inspected the insulation in the attic. He’s checked the foundation for cracks. Every inch of wiring has run before His eyes. He does a far more thorough job then the house inspector we paid to check this house out.

No doubt I need to be working on the “hidden” areas. We can only hide flaws behind couches for so long. Eventually, more and more will deteriorate. I better fix things up before the house falls apart, so that this temple isn’t one day a pile of ruins.

Towers

I want to be close to God. I’m sure, at least I hope, I’m not alone in that. On days when God doesn’t seem so near, building a tower to get closer to him seems like a good idea.

Sometimes I’m tempted to think that those guys in Genesis 11 had a good idea. Only I’d build a tower with more noble intentions. Instead of trying to be famous like God, I’d build my tower so I could poke my head into heaven and have a look around.

I wonder how many of us are trying to get closer to God through our own efforts of elevation.

It seems like a good idea, doesn’t it? After all, where is God? He’s in heaven right? Now Heaven, as we all know, is up. Isn’t it?

Generally when we read the Bible we find all sorts of verses to support a “God’s up there and were down here” system of things. So we build towers, climb ladders, tie weather balloons to lawn chairs all to get higher and, therefore, closer to God – at least where God is supposed to be – to the place we understand is his home.

However, there are also verses that talk about God coming down and walking about the earth. What if he still does that? We’re often taught that God doesn’t do that anymore, but what certainty do these teachers have? What if God’s hiding out in some quiet corner of the woods, or the Rocky Mountains, or Coombs, or Central park just enjoying his creation? We are confident that, at the very least, his Spirit inhabits his people. God’s Spirit is on the earth.

So what if God isn’t just up there, but also down here? And what if we, through all our efforts of trying to get higher and closer to God, find ourselves somewhere in between? What if we’re missing God because we’re up in a tower out of touch from the dirt he’s walking on while yet not high enough to reach heaven?

Perhaps I should spend more time looking for God around here, and less time trying to climb my way to heaven.