A Little Walk Around the Palace

Recently I felt compelled to conduct an experiment, so I walked through my house. Let me break that down right off. “I walked”. Many people can’t. I have two healthy legs to get around. I am already well ahead in the game. “Through”. I live in a house with more than one room which takes a few minutes to navigate. I am already a king compared to billions living here on earth. “My house”. I own it and the land upon which it sits. Many don’t have the hope or opportunity to own land at all, much less a house like mine. I look out windows. I have glass in my windows to keep rain, dust, and bugs out and heat/cool in. Yeah, we’re fancy like that.

I remember flying into Guatemala City in May 2001. We were picking up our baby son whom we were adopting from an orphanage. On the aircraft’s approach, we flew over the slums and saw block after block of rusty tin shacks crammed next to one another. We felt a pang of guilt mixed with joy at the home we would be providing for him. Back to that home tour, now.

I force myself to go room-by-room. I start in the back bedroom. This is to differentiate it from the other three bedrooms in the house. I’ve just begun my tour and already I’m richer than billions of my fellow human beings. Whew. It’s going to be a long, hard tour, I can already tell. I open the linen cupboard and find several sets of clean sheets which are for the several soft, comfortable beds in my house. On the top shelf is a large tub packed with medicine and supplies which any number of third-world clinics would be thrilled to have. Next to that is a stack of jigsaw puzzles which we don’t ever use anymore because we have many other more fascinating things with which to entertain ourselves in our leisure time. The second shelf contains a dozen clean bath towels. Yes, that’s right; soft cotton fabric only used to wipe clean water off our bodies and to then be tossed in a hamper. How very decadent.

I enter two more bedrooms fit for a king equipped with central heat and air as well as double-insulated windows and ceiling fans. Nothing but the finest, here. Next comes the bathroom which three people share. Like some kind of primitive savages. Sometimes we even bump into each other or have to wait because our needs overlap. Somehow, we manage to soldier through it. More towels, backup toothbrushes still in the package ready for when we get tired of the old ones, and that fantastic toilet which carries our waste far away by a hidden pipe we never see or smell.

I walk through the dining room. You see, we have an entire room set aside for the express purpose of stuffing our faces with delicacies. I go through the other doorway and am immediately confronted with the pantry. I take a deep breath, dreading this. I reach for the cabinet door and pull it open to reveal a small grocery store. The same door I often slam shut in frustration when I declare, “There’s nothing to eat!” Please, dear God forgive me.  I’ve never known real hunger. Never. Not once in my entire life.

I push the lever to the right on my kitchen faucet and instantly have all the clean, fresh water I want. Many millions of people in the world would call me a king just for this. If that weren’t shaming enough, I turn the lever to the left and within moments I have hot water to clean with. This “miracle” would render so many cultures speechless, yet I complain if it takes more than a few seconds to get hot enough to suit my fancy.

Past the kitchen is the living room. There sits the recliner I grumble at because the footrest doesn’t always stay up at the exact position I prefer. It sits in front of a television (one of four) that isn’t quite up to snuff because it’s “only” 36 inches. I’d really like a bigger one someday, but times have been hard lately. “Hard”. That thought is worth a wry chuckle followed by a blush and a cringe. I can’t even muster the courage to go downstairs to the fourth bedroom and stare into the closet crammed full with clothes I never think twice about. Except, that is, when I don’t have a particular item clean which I want right at that moment. *Sigh*

How dare I.

HOW DARE I!

And yet, I dare greatly and often. I dare to complain and lament at the trials and tribulations of my life. It isn’t even a matter of looking at how much better I have it than countless millions just struggling to survive. Even if everyone in the world lived at my wealth level, it would still be shameful for me to be ungrateful and discontent with the luxurious and princely life I lead. But I don’t do that. Instead, I complain about my life. I bemoan that we “can’t afford” this or that. I gripe about slow internet service which makes this blog post load too slowly for my liking. What a baby. Will I never be satisfied? Will it never be enough? “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Have I become like Israel? “When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me” (Hosea 13:6 NKJV).

God, forgive me. World, forgive me. Readers, forgive me.  Let me look upon the world’s bounty as a rich blessing with a trillion daily delights instead of an annoyance and constant disappointment. Help me get over myself. Help me rise above myself.  Shall we together?