Showers of Blessing - The Secret of Contentment
Day 1: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).
I half listened as the Sunday School teacher spoke about giving thanks for ordinary things. "For instance," she said, "I thank God when I am washing the dishes and I feel the hot water running over my hands."
I certainly couldn’t relate. My teenage mind filled with thoughts of showers in my no-hot- water home. I shuddered, imagining the cold water running down my back each day as I got ready for school. Hot water was definitely not on my gratitude list.
Years later, while living in another country, I took the train from the small town where I lived to visit a Caribbean friend in the big city. We had met during the orientation for our program, and she had invited me to stay with her for the weekend.
My friend explained how difficult it was to find housing in the city. She showed me around the small, comfortable room she was renting in the home of an elderly lady. "But, oh," she warned me, "the shower is outside."
"Outside?" I was flabbergasted. It wasn't the thought of an outside shower that fazed me—I had been "born and bred" in outside showers. But this was a whole new reality. This was an outside shower—in winter! And no hot water!
Granted, the winters in that part of the country were relatively mild. But for two young ladies from the Caribbean, mild winter was definitely an oxymoron. Yet, my friend was determined to "grin and bear it."
Sometimes, experiences like these can dislodge the ungrateful from our perspective. To think I had complained about cold water on an island where the average temperature in our coldest month (January) was 81°F (27°C)!
Not to mention, I had been complaining to my friend about being placed in a small town so far away from the city. But now I realized what a blessing it was. Housing options were more widely available, and much cheaper, and I did not have to shower outside in the winter.
But even for my friend, who did, a million reasons existed to be grateful—finding housing in a crowded city, finding desired quiet with an elderly landlady. And for us both the opportunity for our program, and finding a friend from "home." Ultimately I realized that perspective is simply the gateway to gratitude or grumbling.
I still grumble far too much. But from time to time the ups and downs and the roller coaster turns of life still work to bring “reset.” So that I can, like the apostle Paul, "learn the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Philippians 4:12). And splash in the droplets—or in the drenching showers of blessings—indoors or out, cold or hot.
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