Thirsty?
Last weekend, I was at a conference where one of the speakers (Warren Barfield) described a scene where 600 families all fought for one small stream of water. They’d walk two hours through hot, dusty sand, literally fight to fill up their buckets, and then lug that life-giving liquid home to their families. They did this every-single-day.
I have mentally grumbled at the slowness of my refrigerator to give me water. I have to stand there practically forever to wait for it to fill up. Sometimes I check my email or respond to a text while I wait.
So after hearing that story, I went home and counted how long it took to fill up a very large glass.
That’s how long it takes my refrigerator to fill up a large glass of water.
I am a spoiled, ungrateful human being.
Have you seen the You Tube video “Top 100 First World Problems” yet? He includes things like “my microwave doesn’t quit beeping until I open the door,” “I need to use 2 remotes to turn on the TV,” “bad cell phone reception,” and “the internet is slow.”
I showed it to my kids, and we began compiling a list of “Top 100 Problems of First World Kids.” They included things like “I lost my Webkinz password” and “I don’t like any of the four cereals we have.”
When I filled up my glass today, I took a moment to thank God for those 20 seconds, and the reminder to practice thankfulness in all of life.
Becky, this spoke to me! When we got a fridge with a water thing I had the same thought filling a cup. . .it felt so tedious! Then, of course, I felt like a huge jerk for feeling that way considering what some people in the world go through to get water. 🙂 Then I tried to be mindful of my feeling of annoyance and try to do something productive with that 20 seconds in my mind like say a scripture or pray. THEN I just started drinking from the tap again. 🙂 Yeah, that’s a lot faster. LOL.
Jen, I can completely relate. I had to lol at drinking from the tap again. 🙂