Seasons
Ecclesiastes 3:1 proclaims "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven". You know the 1960's Byrds song "to everything turn turn turn, there is a season turn turn turn"? Or if you prefer verses 2-8 in Ecclesiastes:
"a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
Well right now I've got a season of grumpy. That isn't in the song or the scriptures but it is alive and well in my house. Matt and I have both struggled quite a bit lately with this spirit of the grump.
I'm grumpy today because my Keurig machine brewed its last cup of coffee 5 days after I received the $100 worth of coffee K-cups I ordered 6 weeks ago from Keurig. I'm grumpy because Matt's car (that we love) had a little hiccup this morning and opted to stay in the carport instead of starting up and driving to work. I'm grumpy because I feel really lost about our upcoming cruise. I'm not used to being on a tight time constraint and can't decide if I want to follow a guide around with an umbrella and megaphone on tours through Greece - for an excessive amount of money - or just do what we normally do and follow the shiny things to see what we see. I'm grumpy because my jeans are tight, I don't have anything planned for dinner, and I don't know what to do for Eli's birthday festivities due to an insanely busy schedule this week.
I should, however, be in season of gratitude. How cool is it that that Keurig was an awesome Christmas gift that gave us hundreds of cups of coffee at the touch of a button? How nice is it that it is still under warranty? We have an awesome diesel BWM that drives a million miles without needing to refuel and for 2 years it has given us barely any trouble at all, especially taking into consideration that it is an old fart in car years. We have two cars. Again a blessing that some people don't have. OK, so I don't know right now exactly how things are going to go for our cruise.....seriously taking our family of four on a cruise to Greece. Enough said. Jeans are tight because I have a ton of fun eating fabulous food with great friends in an amazing location. I can be skinny in someplace boring and lonely. And finally, we have so many things going on this week because we have some really fun opportunities. Eli is still playing German/American baseball, the boys are in swim lessons, I'm an AWANA leader and we leave on Friday to go camping with friends. Now, as for dinner.... I just need to switch my season of grumpy to a season of recipe searching and that too will be solved.
There are some legitimate reasons for us to be struggling with discontent and a whole bunch of really lame reasons too. I am realizing that the solution to this overall crankiness is not to solve each of the individual problems/challenges/circumstances that are in our lives right now but to solve the problem of my attitude toward them.
"a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
Well right now I've got a season of grumpy. That isn't in the song or the scriptures but it is alive and well in my house. Matt and I have both struggled quite a bit lately with this spirit of the grump.
I'm grumpy today because my Keurig machine brewed its last cup of coffee 5 days after I received the $100 worth of coffee K-cups I ordered 6 weeks ago from Keurig. I'm grumpy because Matt's car (that we love) had a little hiccup this morning and opted to stay in the carport instead of starting up and driving to work. I'm grumpy because I feel really lost about our upcoming cruise. I'm not used to being on a tight time constraint and can't decide if I want to follow a guide around with an umbrella and megaphone on tours through Greece - for an excessive amount of money - or just do what we normally do and follow the shiny things to see what we see. I'm grumpy because my jeans are tight, I don't have anything planned for dinner, and I don't know what to do for Eli's birthday festivities due to an insanely busy schedule this week.
I should, however, be in season of gratitude. How cool is it that that Keurig was an awesome Christmas gift that gave us hundreds of cups of coffee at the touch of a button? How nice is it that it is still under warranty? We have an awesome diesel BWM that drives a million miles without needing to refuel and for 2 years it has given us barely any trouble at all, especially taking into consideration that it is an old fart in car years. We have two cars. Again a blessing that some people don't have. OK, so I don't know right now exactly how things are going to go for our cruise.....seriously taking our family of four on a cruise to Greece. Enough said. Jeans are tight because I have a ton of fun eating fabulous food with great friends in an amazing location. I can be skinny in someplace boring and lonely. And finally, we have so many things going on this week because we have some really fun opportunities. Eli is still playing German/American baseball, the boys are in swim lessons, I'm an AWANA leader and we leave on Friday to go camping with friends. Now, as for dinner.... I just need to switch my season of grumpy to a season of recipe searching and that too will be solved.
There are some legitimate reasons for us to be struggling with discontent and a whole bunch of really lame reasons too. I am realizing that the solution to this overall crankiness is not to solve each of the individual problems/challenges/circumstances that are in our lives right now but to solve the problem of my attitude toward them.
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