Sunday Message: Thanksgiving and whining

I have been debating a bit this morning on a post a friend put on her blog the other day.  This is the friend who does a weekly journey through the Tao, and from a Christian perspective.  Often, the subject involves the letting go of one's control of a situation.  Now, we are not talking the "giving in to evil" thing here, quite the opposite.  God wants us to surrender control to Him, it is a common thread in the Bible.  It doesn't suggest doing nothing, kicking out a lawn chair and watching Him blast Amalakites or whoever the pagan army o' the week is.  Letting go in this sense always involves work, but work in which God is the guiding hand, and God is the goal.

And to me, the second part always seems harder than the first.  The concept of doing your daily work "as if you are doing it for the Lord" always seems to devolve into, "God sure needs some pain-in-the-butt product," or "God sure doesn't want want His product the easy way," or the ever-popular "God needs to give me a raise for putting up with this."  Which is, of course, missing the point.

The world has become a big nest of whiners.  Even in such an extreme situation as the destruction in Puerto Rico.  I read two articles yesterday, one of which was the famous story of the Mayor of San Juan blaming Trump for what she sees as slow response to the carnage, and Trump's statement that people like her want the government to do everything for them.  The other was from a PR resident, who, while also trying to blame Trump- mainly for the macroeconomic factors that were there long before him and why doesn't he tear them down- she also took a side blast at the mayor by saying that all the aid is concentrated in San Juan, while in two weeks all her town has gotten is five pallets of water.  Then throw in the (as far as I can tell) unsubstantiated stories that the PR version of the Teamsters are keeping 80% of truckers off the road in order to angle for a better contract.

How about this:  The whole place is a mess.  Does no good to send perishable food to supermarkets with NO power.  80% of truck drivers COULD conceivably be trying to make sure their own family survives before looking out for the rest of the nation.  FEMA MIGHT possibly be busy also in Florida and Texas, as well as in the many wildfire situations.  And just maybe, no one living through this has any idea where to start.  But I guess the first place to start these days is to snipe at each other.

In less extreme scenarios, we have Mr and Mrs living-a-normal-life, trying to keep "Work as though for the Lord" in mind.  And when you let your guard down, all the little stupid things come in to frustrate you, make you angry, and finally get you, perhaps, to say, "Lord, take this job and shove it."

Now, let me circle around again.  The night Irma hit Dominica, I found a link to the local radio station.  They were giving out information, talking to the Prime Minister and others, and trying to hold it together, huddled in what was described as the safest building on the island, as the winds got so bad it sounded like a mechanic was revving a big block engine in the next room.

And all the while, playing worship music, repeating "God is good", and praying for the people of the island.  "Wow, was this a Christian station?"  So far as I could tell from their website, not normally.  But they were putting it under God's control because they knew the enormity of the statement "There is no other choice."


Before we go on to, "Well, yeah, but..." keep in mind the circumstances for most of us are nowhere near that bad.  If we can give God control when the wheel is violently ripped from our hands, why not when we're just hitting the potholes of life?  While I'm standing there at my machine, cursing my crappy fabric, my substandard blade, or the engineers who seem bent to cause every difficulty reasonably allowed, why not instead thank God for the job.

For the home.  For the friends, the people.  For the food, the car.

I tried this Friday.  Did it magically cure all ills?  Well, let's see, I was still dealing with a short week moneywise that I could do nothing about, and went from that right into yet another case of "my e-mail don't wanna come up", and then lept into a curtain rod situation where the first attempted cure was worse than the disease.  And in the back of my mind, I saw a part of me cursing comcast, smashing metal tubes, shouting like a madman.  But instead, I laughed, told Laurie, "You might wanna go make that store trip now,", eased my way through the problems, and relaxed with one (just one) beer soon afterwards.

And if a little bit of prayer, a little bit of thankfulness can carry us over through minor rough spots, and major giving thanks can comfort us through the apocalypse howling at the door, then why can't we give thanks and leave the whining and sniping behind and do something POSITIVE for our nation, our world, our neighborhood today?

That second lady I mentioned before was complaining  that everyone wants to give their money to the "small charities" like the Red Cross rather than helping to build an infrastructure that can survive such a storm.  And I said to myself after much prayer, here's the thing.  Charities are there to help with the CRISIS.  YOU as a resident are responsible for the government which is SUPPOSED to take care of your infrastructure.  Instead of criticising me for doing what I can to ease your suffering and expecting me to rebuild your world on $30 a week, perhaps you should be giving thanks that the charities are there, that FEMA is there, that you are a part of the United States and not "Puerto Rico, independent and now screwed and all alone."

And me?  I'm not going to waste any more thought on your whining, as I have enough whining of my own I need to give control of to God.