February 1, 2012
So, the other day I was sitting in a Sunday school class at church and one of the people in the class said “If you woke up today with only the things you expressed gratitude in prayer for yesterday, what would you have?” Even if that comment was not a “Sunday school patron” original, I thought that the sentiment was rather poignant. It made me think “Oh man, what did I express gratitude for yesterday?” It made me realize that I would only have my family, girlfriend, the gospel and my wonderful sense of style but that I would be starving, homeless, car-less, jobless, completely unhealthy and to add insult to injury, I would be naked. I think most people would consider that a bad day... I put that into perspective and devised a horrible scenario...and it follows:
Whilst I was aslumber the heater that I run at night to keep myself toasty warm shot a spark forward and ignited my hair gel (which I recently found out is made with butane, the same fluid used in cigarette lighters). The slow burning fire started on my bookshelf, instantly igniting my Twilight collection (even Eclipse!). By this point my bookshelf is completely ablaze and I'm still asleep; I can sleep through anything, which as my parents noted, when I was six years old I slept through a 6.1 earthquake, even when my dresser fell and knocked a lamp onto me. I digress. The fire then lights my entire wardrobe on fire in my closet; igniting my shirts, shoes, pants and, gasp, my skivvies! The fire wraps around my room and sets my guitars and amplifiers ablaze...I'll admit that when I was young this very thing was a dream of mine but I was hoping it to be on stage in front of thousands of fans. Yet again, I digress. The fire then climbs the bottom of my bed and sets my mattress mostly ablaze. By the point that the fire catches my pants on fire I begin to stir, still asleep though. My phone is the first to explode from the heat... I'm awake by this point, my phone could wake me from a dead sleep, we're of one flesh... yet again, digression. I jump out of bed and notice that my clothes are on fire, I quickly strip from my clothes and hop out my window. By some freak accident I see that the fire has spread through the rest of the house and reaches my car, the fire hits the gasline, sparks the gas tank and my car explodes in a fourth of July worthy spectacle. Here I am standing outside in the buff...but I'm warm! The house and car that are smouldering off ample heat. I then realize that I have to go to work, I've never missed a day of work if I could prevent it so I begin walking to work. As I walk in to the office I am immediately fired for showing up nude... a fire-worthy offense if you ask me. I then sit outside chutisimo (as they would say in Spanish) and wish that I had been grateful!
I guess that's scenario is okay if you're A) a nudist, B) a pyromaniac, C) a masochist or D) all of the above but it made me seriously consider what I am grateful for! I consider myself a rather optimistic person and I know that all of the things which I did not have were things that could be replaced and the only thing that really matters to me is the people in my life. However, I haven't just been blessed with wonderful people in my life, I have been given so many things above and beyond wonderful company. I should remember that. I lived in the poorest country in South America for a couple years. I saw poverty, I saw people who were starving to death, people who had lost all of their family to famine and people who lived without electricity much less hot water, hot food or nice clothes. I noticed one thing though that made me feel shameful, they gave thanks for every grain of rice they had. A popular thing for Bolivians to say in their prayers was “Gracias por el pan de cada dia” or “Thank you for the bread of every day.” This was a humble expression of gratitude for even having a loaf of bread to eat every day, that the Lord had provided at least that much. Even if it was more than some bread they were grateful. It makes me really wish that more Americans could see life in a third world country and put into perspective how amazing their lives are. It's sad to me that after only three years of not being there I had forgotten about true gratitude. Anyway, that's my rant on gratitude.
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