I have first world problems.
This morning I got up early, brushed my teeth, checked my cell phone and Facebook of course, made an appointment for my daughter’s orthodontist, made Corbett his peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and kissed him good-bye for the day. If it is true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, my husband in pretty easy on me! Simple and sweet. As I just listened to him pull out of our garage with the broken garage doors -PB&J in hand to go win us some bread for the day- I am smelling breakfast for my kiddos bake in the oven as they sleep away. I’m calling this experimental recipe “Banana-Peaut-Butter-Maple-Syrup-Drenched-I-Sure-Hope-This-Turns-Out-And-My-Kids-Will-Eat-it-French-Toast-Bake” which of course my hips will certainly thank me for, and I hope my kids do to. As I was throwing together the random breakfast meal of this and that out of our cupboard FULL of food I admit to the following thought running through my head.
“This kitchen is so small…I wish I had a bigger kitchen. The repair man is coming to fix the fridge today-I reeeeeaaaalllly hope we don’t have to pay a ton to get that stupid thing fixed, and both of those garage doors need to be fixed next. Ugggghhhh.”
It was riiiiiight about the very moment when the first syllable of “uuug…” came out that the Lord gave me a gut check about the many provisions I have in life as I clicked on this random link below (yes…the 2nd time I have been on FB in this first hour of my day-embarrassingly true). To be honest I was utterly humbled at my inward thought and ungratefulness for all that the Lord has provided for us. I needed this gut check as a small town Iowan, as an American, as a Child of King Jesus, and as a human being with more than enough, more than most, and more than deserve. I mean let’s be honest…most of us need to have a yard sale as we hoard up bookoo resources in our store rooms!
In this first hour I have been awake today I realize that not all people have the luxury of a small kitchen and the plenty of food to experiment with recipes-even with a broken floor and fridge it is a good kitchen for my family. I took a second to process that not all people have a special dentist to make their child’s teeth straight…even with imperfect teeth we have plenty of food with which to use them. I mean come on, we have houses for our cars when millions of people don’t even have houses for their heads. My broken garage door is not that big of a deal.
With utter gratefulness I write this tid-bit as a simple reminder to me and to you, humbleness and humility abounding, we are blessed beyond measure not only with “THINGS” but with the love of PEOPLE and of JESUS. Might we remember that is indeed our greatest provision and blessing. Love God. Love People. Not Things.
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS