“WATER OUTAGE AND GRATITUDE”
A couple of weeks ago, we experienced a water main break near our house. The water was off for several hours. I decided to go up to where the men were working. No, I wasn’t going up to ask how long the water be off. I went up to thank them for coming out on a Saturday morning to work on the broken pipe and to thank them for keeping the aging pipes working most of the time. They seemed very touched by my gratitude.
I suspect that the utility workers had been the victims of a trap that I frequently fall into. Too often, I take things for granted when they work, and complain loudly when they don’t. I don’t like that about myself, but there it is. I think I’m doing better than I used to concerning this, but I am still very much a work in progress.
I grew up without running water. Sometimes we ran for the water, but more often we moseyed. So, I really appreciate having running water most of the time.
Both of our presidential candidates talked about infrastructure, and it is an important topic. Our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers laid the pipes that we use today. We should be grateful to them and for them. And we should be grateful for the men and women who now try to keep the pipes more or less serviceable. And, maybe—just maybe—we should be willing to shell out some money for some major infrastructure projects ourselves.
Perhaps, however, there is another kind of infrastructure that needs some maintenance: the utility known as “gratitude.” Perhaps gratitude is a primary means of God conveying God’s blessings to us. It isn’t so much that God only blesses those who are grateful. The truth is that God is good to everyone and everything God has made. “The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation” (Psalm 145:9, New Living Translation).
Rather, it is the case that only those who are grateful realize that God has blessed them. An ungrateful attitude very quickly becomes a practical form of atheism. In discussing the sinfulness of humankind, Paul wrote, “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused” (Romans 1:21, New Living Translation).
When I fail to be grateful, I sabotage the pipe through which God’s goodness pours. Of course, once I’ve done that, I am free to complain as much as I would like. However, God is not the problem.
How is your gratitude infrastructure?
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