ingratitude.

started in a garden.  they had everything.  but one thing.  and it's that one thing that ate at them.  much more than an apple ... the idea that God was withholding something from them.  that He was withholding something GOOD from them.  and so they gave in to the ingratitude for what they had ... driven only by the one thing they lacked.  and sin entered the world.

flash forward.  God's people are enslaved in egypt.  they have a hard life.  they are abused and beaten.  forced to work long hours in horrible conditions.  the egyptians are afraid they are going to take over egypt so they start killing the hebrew babies.  eventually God says, ENOUGH.  and he equips moses to deliver his people.  he turns pharoah's heart.  he parts the red sea.  he leads them through the desert to a land of promise.  but again, they are ungrateful.  why would God bring them into the desert just to die.  it was at least "comfortable" back in egypt.  wouldn't they have been better off there?  he RESCUED them and they long for captivity.

then, there's the issue of food.  no, they will not starve in the wilderness.  God blesses them with manna "what is this?"  but that's not good enough.  in egypt they had a variety of tasty food.  and now, they just have this stuff.  what is this stuff after all?  it says it tasted like honey on their lips ... but they did not choose to be grateful for what they had.  nope, they grumbled.  they complained.  they wanted what they did not have.

everyone else has a king.  why can't we have a king like everyone else?  God desired to be their "king" ... they were HIS people and HE had other plans. ungrateful for the special relationship they had with him, they begged for a king and he relented.  ingratitude.

Jesus healed ten lepers.  one returned to thank him.  one.  nine went about their lives.  maybe they were grateful.  maybe they just felt entitled.  but only one stopped in the celebration to return thanks for the gift he had been given.  am I the one?  or the nine?

INGRATITUDE.  it's not new.  i had a long conversation this week with one of my girls on that very topic.  it was tuesday.  let me give you all the reasons I had to be ungrateful for tuesday: it was raining, the street was closed off and it took me five extra minutes to go around, i got home late the day before and was tired, i had to unload my car, i was gonna be at work for 12+ hours, i had a lunch i didn't like because i didn't have time to make something better ... yeh, doesn't sound that bad, huh?  i wanted to post, "tuesday: 6; karen: 0" because you know what, let me tell you a secret, i like to complain.  laura and i laughed as she recounted her morning and how she had tweeted "so far this morning is shaping up to be all accounts of terrible" and we laughed that she had gotten eight sweet texts from people concerned for her wellbeing that was really only affected by the closed road, a rainy morning, and a big puddle!  how silly we all are.  how ungrateful we are.  how unaware we are of God's many, many blessings.

as we continued to talk, the day redeemed over $5 pizza at your pie, we realized that all it takes is a change of perspective ... and a decision not to complain.  about.  anything.  but heavens, whatever will we talk about if not to complain?

we have bought the lie that God is withholding good from us.  and we have CHOSEN to be an ungrateful people, stamping our foot at our creator when we don't get our way.  thinking, if this were my story, i'd write it differently ... arrogantly neglecting what we don't know of the ending.

and it needs to stop here.