Warning: Copious amounts of sarcasm ahead, followed by a heaping helping of sincerity

"Stay and enjoy yourself."

Judges 19:9

My sister did something terrible today.  Shameful.

And I told her what I thought of her decision.  But she did it anyway.

Stubborn.

The vile, disgraceful thing she did?

Run errands.

I know, right?

But for those of you who need more information, the detail that made her crime so despicable was that where she lives, it snowed today.

And still, she ran her errands.

I know, I know... she works full-time and Saturdays are a day she needs to get things done.

And I know, I know, I know... she was out of town the past couple of days and probably had a pretty good-sized to-do list.

But still ~ snow!

I, of course, live in Southern California, where, of course, it does not snow.  I mean, up there in the mountains it does, but not down here at sea level.  I see snow under only a few conditions:

     a) My family heads up to the Southern California mountains,
        which we hardly ever do.

     2) We visit my sister in Utah.

     d) We visit my other sister in Nevada.

Snow is a rare commodity for us.  A treat.  Beautiful, peaceful, inspiring... once a year, if we're lucky, so it's a thing to be celebrated.  Treasured.  And it calls for a very specific response, including a blanket, a fire in the fireplace, and hot chocolate.

I reminded her of that, but she ran her errands anyway.  And then I talked to her later in the day, and she wasn't a bit remorseful.

The question is:  what am I taking for granted?  I get so bored with the beautiful sunshine, because we see it nearly every day.  But there are places in the world (like that town in Norway) where they treasure what I ignore.

My family, a soft bed and a comfortable chair... plenty of food, and the time to eat it... luxuries and the time to enjoy them.  Not only am I not (outwardly) grateful for them, I expect them.  And if one of them were to be missing from my life, I'd wonder why God had abandoned me.  

To be honest, I think maybe God doesn't look too harshly on us for sins like this.  I think He understands, in the same way I understand that my dog is afraid when the Apple of my Eye checks the battery on the smoke alarm.  I shake my head with a little smile on my face, because I know that's just how she is.  She's a dog-of-very-little-brain.

Is that what He does?  Does He just shake His head with a little smile, because He knows I'm a child-of-very-little-thanks?

Oh, I so don't want to be that...  I want to revel in sunshine and family and joy and blessings, just like I wanted my sister to pause for a day and delight in the snow.  I want to want not what I want, but what I already have.

I'm grateful, though, that He does know how grateful I am.  He knows how I adore my family and my life.  I just wish I would say it to Him more often.

~ "Sing to the Lord with grateful praise" ~

Psalm 147:7

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