Beyond First World Problems

Hot and humid weather has lingered far too long. Primary activities in the garden are filling the birdfeeders, making sure the fountains don’t run dry, and pulling weeds here and there--before the sun pokes its fiery head into my backyard. I feel the lack of garden time. I miss my hands in the dirt, building rock beds, moving plants around and planting new ones, all while hearing quiet whispers in my meeting place with God. Not that we don’t meet, but you know what it’s like to have a favorite meeting place with a good friend...there’s just something about it that creates an atmosphere of intimacy. It’s a special, lovely thing.

The heat provides an opportunity to work on inside projects, and I’m looking forward to wrapping them up. I painted the master bath a deep grey, and next I plan to repaint the cabinets, update the pulls and faucets, and paint all trim in the house a brighter white. That last one is on a slowly-but-surely timeline.

For weeks I’ve been running around getting samples for the new countertop and backsplash I’m having installed, and I’m trying to decide on paint colors for the kitchen cabinets and walls. Different swatches of color are on the walls and cabinets, and the countertop and backsplash samples are perched on the counter to see how they go together. It’s no simple task coordinating colors that change depending on the time of day, and the house is in disarray.

I could go on complaining about the amount of time and energy I’ve spent on this, and all the running around I’ve had to do. But, as my wise and witty niece likes to say....“that is a first-world problem”. She’s so right.

As the water pours out of the faucet during my “first-world” morning ritual, I shut it off quickly and pray for those in other places where there is no water. My heart overflows with thanksgiving for my easy life of dishwashers, showers, and washing machines, and breaks for those who barely have enough to drink. At the grocery store, I compare price, nutritional content, and flavor, choosing between vast numbers of items in true “first-world” style. My heart overflows with thanksgiving for the abundance, and breaks for those who are barely getting by.

At this moment, I sit in my temperature-controlled cozy home with my lights on, internet at the ready, writing out this story on one of two available devices in undeniable “first-world” luxury. My heart overflows with thanksgiving for these blessings, and breaks for the thousands who have lost everything all across the globe, even in our “first-world” country.

I struggle with the reality that there are no solutions at this point in time, no understanding the reasons or seasons, no blame to be placed that will right the wrongs, no quick fixes, no replacement of lost lives and precious goods. At the end of each struggle, what is, is. It would be overwhelmingly hopeless if I didn’t know the side of Reality that remains hidden and can only be known by faith: God exists, he knows, he cares, he rules, and whether I understand it or not, he is at work bringing our reality on earth into alignment with the reality of heaven.

In the meantime, I will turn the water off quickly, I will live more simply, I will give to those in need, my thoughts will turn upwards in thanksgiving instead of downwards in complaint, and my heart will pray with and for the people of the earth until that wonderful Day is birthed. Hope and confidence in the Word of Truth is my choice.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Romans 8:22