Lesson Learned

As I drove along my 90 minute drive to the Twin Cities yesterday morning a couple of hours before the sun would peak its light over the horizon a few thoughts rushed into my head. It was much earlier than I was accustomed to rising in the morning. After a few days in a row of above freezing temperatures, the mercury dropped and the wind pushed the wind chill down to 25-below zero. The rest of the people on the road seemed to be more affected by the early morning and cold temperatures as they couldn’t seem to remember basic highway maneuvering. Then God took this wonderful opportunity of my self-righteous pride to remind me of his spectacular majesty.

As I glanced over my shoulder for any oncoming traffic I looked to the dark western sky and covered in a slight fog, a full moon beamed its light through the haze to reveal a breathtaking sight.


The sight was brilliant. Dark rainbows appeared near the outer edges of the moon’s glow. The shadowy silhouette of the landscape on the horizon provided a beautiful frame for the painting in the sky. Then I quickly realized that had the weather patterns not been just right – cold weather, full moon, thin haze – and had I not been forced to be on the road in that direction on the morning of a full moon I would never have gotten to witness this marvelous spectacle. The things I had been complaining about were the very things that God orchestrated to paint such a beautiful image in the night sky.

Conviction hit pretty hard (though the guilt was softened by the thankfulness for the grace in the moment) as I pondered how often we complain about our circumstances. Living in Minnesota, it is a common pastime to grumble about the cold. It doesn’t take too much time on the road to identify someone who has violated our sense of righteous driving. We often joke about marriage being difficult or our spouse being stubborn while beneath the surface of the joke we are actually venting our personal frustrations. We use early mornings and late nights as an excuse for terse behavior. It always seems to be somebody else’s fault; sometimes we even blame God (see Adam and Eve in Genesis 3).

It is quite amazing that living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, blessed far beyond what any of us deserve (anything but hell is blessing more than we deserve), yet we find every reason to be discontent with the way our lives are. I pray for more thankfulness and patience as I wait for God to weave difficult circumstances together for my good and for the praise of His holy Name.

Next time you find yourself set to gripe about your situation, stop and pray for a more thankful heart and look for God to use it for your good. When the weather is cold, thank Him for a warm house. When your spouse upsets you, pray for wisdom to respond respectfully. When a driver cuts you off, pray for strength to overlook the sin. When your boss gets on your nerves, look for ways to be a blessing to him.

We find it far too easy to complain when we feel our comfort has been upset when we should be praising God for these opportunities to show His work in our hearts to make us more content, thankful, and compassionate. Sometimes it takes a bit of a shaking from God to get us out of our comfort zone, to cast out our idols, to be more thankful and obedient to his commands.

I thank God that He used the beautiful morning sky to get my attention instead of getting swallowed by a large fish.