Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)
Snow just keeps falling
The snow just keeps falling, covering the world with a beautiful white blanket. It looks so lovely as huge snowflakes fall gently to the ground. The whole world made to look fresh and clean and good. It is beautiful, but it can also be a hassle. The snow is piling up higher and higher making it difficult to navigate the narrowing side streets. Grocery stores are crowded with mobs trying beat the next storm. Streets and parking lots are flooded with slush. Public transportation is crowded and running late. But do we really have to complain? We can be frustrated over delays, backups, cancellations all caused by the snow. We can be upset that we have to dig out our driveways and sidewalks until we finally make it to the car only to find that the plow has buried our car under four feet of rock-hard ice and snow, but what good does it do to complain?
Maybe complaining acts as a sort of catharsis. Maybe complaining can help purge us of frustration, but maybe complaining just builds upon itself and grows. Complaining can quickly become a way of dealing with life. Every little inconvenience becomes a gripe session. So what are we to do? We can begin by remembering the word of the Lord: "Do all things without grumbling (Philippians 2:14)."1
God does not want us to complain about our circumstances. Think about it. When you complain about things that you cannot control, things that are ultimately in God's hands, then in a way you are complaining about God. When we complain we become like the ancient Israelites who complained to Moses that he had brought them out of Egypt into a barren desert. You say, "I'll take the desert right now instead of all this snow." But then we'd complain about the desert. What did Moses tell the people when they complained about their circumstances? "Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord (Exodus 16:8)."Yes the snow can be a huge inconvenience, but let's view it as an opportunity to learn patience and an opportunity to trust God that even though things are not going perfectly the way we'd like, we can smile and maybe see the snow as a blessing instead of a curse.
With boots, gloves, shovel, and a smile;
Pastor Steve
January 28, 2011
Footnotes
1 Philippians 2:14, NASB (New American Standard Bible). Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
Jesus is the greatest teacher who ever lived. One of Jesus' techniques was to relate spiritual ideas to common everyday life. Pensamientos (afterthought) is an attempt to follow Jesus' method of teaching. Its title is in Spanish because we recognize the importance of multi-culturalism. We hope to translate some of these messages into Spanish soon.
Find more afterthoughts at Pensamientos (afterthoughts).
You can read recent sermons by Pastor Lorenz at Featured Sermon.