Turning Inconvenience Into Opportunity

Perhaps you are like me and preoccupied by the excessive heat and exceptional drought of this summer of 2011. There are times that I am guilty of just forcing myself to do what I absolutely have to. This afternoon was one of those days. After I finished cooking the Friday lunch for the Sr. Adult's group at church, I decided to go ahead and run to the next town and complete some of my "once a month" errands that I do there. Next week we're having Vacation Bible School, so I needed to get my "first of the month" chores done by the end of the month. As I prepared to drive home, for some reason, I had a sudden, passing thought about the victims of the Holocaust during World War II, as well as other groups who have suffered from horrendous crimes throughout history. The sweltering heat had led to my having thoughts of questioning why life has to be so hard at times...then I jumped in my car with its refrigerated air-conditioning as I prepared to go home to simple luxuries, such as my microwave oven and all the ice I wanted in my glass of lemonade. We not only have food to eat, houses to live in, permission to worship and come and go as we please, and basically, no one telling us we have to go live in inhuman conditions under constant threat of death and annihilation. I thought of the long ago cattle cars on the rails of Europe, that people were loaded into with a few hastily gathered possessions and what it would be like to look at your children sitting in the train beside you, wondering if any of you were going to live thru that horrible time. I'm reminded as well, of the on-going suffering of today's refugees in today's world. There are too many to make a quick list, I would leave someone important out. So, turn this time of inconvenience into an opportunity to remind yourself that "I can do this. I am inspired to make it through hard times. I am supposed to be here, God has a plan for me. I am inspired to survive for other days, because I want to continue this race, otherwise known as my life."