Grumpy or Grateful? The Key is in What We're Forgetting

Our family is in a difficult season of life right now. My husband changed jobs (from career youth pastor to solo pastor of a small church), which meant of course we had to change churches, too.

Fortunately the small church is within the same general region in which we've lived since we were married. We had been at our former church since 1992! It's the only church my children have ever known, so you can imagine the strong emotions we've all struggled with associated with leaving our church.

In addition, we're trying to sell our house, and remodel a different house which is about 30 miles away. The house we bought was a foreclosure which had been abandoned for six months. The house had suffered from neglect, inside and out. The next door neighbor said that the grass had only been cut once last summer, when he did it himself. We've been working on restoring the home since February.

During this season of life, I've found that my own attitudes are defaulting to the old nature at times. I think exhaustion combined with being overwhelmed can do that to a person or family, or at least that seems to be my convenient excuse for my bad internal behavior.

This season of life has been a real stretch for us all, having Daddy gone so much, but we know it's for a season and not forever. Today I had to send my 10yr. old (Andrew) son to his room, which is about as severe as I get with the kiddos... I am such a tyrant! You see, Andrew is missing his Dad a lot, and doesn't really "get" why Dad works at the other house on his days off. I have explained and explained this, but you know kids think as kids, not mini-adults, so this is very hard for him. He got sent to his room because pretty much every time he talks to his Dad he's either complaining about missing him, or asking him for something. Gratefulness, I've found, is not the native language of humans, especially young ones. This has also caused me to reflect upon my own lack of gratefulness to my heavenly Father. I forget what He's done, and remember only my own frustrations.

How many times have I only spoken to Him to ask Him for something? How many times have I whined to Him instead of thanked Him for His overwhelming blessings? How could I forget what He has done?

Maybe our natural tendency to lean toward the pessimistic side of life is why God tells us to reflect upon His Word, His workings over the eons, His miraculous intervention in seemingly unbeatable situations? I don't know about you, but when I look back upon my own life, and recall the many times God has done wondrous things, the focus in my heart turns from myself to His glory. I see this beautifully illustrated in Psalm 78:

Give ear, O my people, to my law
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

It seems to me that there is a level of personal responsibility for us to not forget the works of God in history as well as in our own lives. Notice that the stubborn and rebellious generation didn't set its heart aright. To me, that implies that we can choose to set our hearts to focus on the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

I am going to try to do that today. I'm asking God to help me focus on praising Him. I want to remember His strength and His wonderful works that He has done, which are numerous in my life. I bet I'll end up a lot less grumpy and a lot more grateful. I've found it's hard for me to make God's wonders known to my own "generation to come" when I forget His blessings.

I think I will write this in note form, and tape it to my bathroom mirror:

Set your hope in God - Don't forget His works - Keep His commandments