Romans 1:21 — because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

I’m on my way back from a long and tiring business trip — the second one I’ve taken recently, and I know there’s more to come. This morning I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, as the airlines have started making simple things like checking in online and getting a seat assigned much more difficult than I am used to, so I had to get to the airport extra early.
As I was doing my usual morning stuff (I’m trying not to be detailed, those are images you don’t need!) I started to think … or more likely the Holy Spirit started to do some thinking for me, and I realized how uniquely privileged and (again) how very ungrateful I am.
One way to look at things is to think about all the people in the world, and to try to understand how many don’t have food, running water, shelter, healthcare or education … never mind all those little niceties that make life in modern Western societies so comfortable and convenient.
The time dimension provides another perspective. For most of history somebody like me, coming from a poor family and with no practical skills, and no great physical strength, could have expected to live in miserable circumstances. My daily work would have been manual and menial. My daily diet would likely have been minimal and monotonous. I would have had no very pleasant house, and running water could well have been a luxury (as it is, inside toilets were rare until I was lucky enough to be able to go to college). And that would have been the way of it for the vast majority of the population, in all societies, throughout history.
There is one other aspect to my good fortune, one other privilege that has been denied to most people throughout the ages and throughout the world. I am a follower of The Lord Jesus Christ, which in itself is a source of abiding joy.
Isn’t it odd that although we live our lives on a platform of joy, the irritants of day to day living can reduce us to being, like the Israelites in the wilderness, a murmuring whining crew!
So am I resolved to do better? Certainly I am.Will I succeed? Not if it depends on my human will! I like a quotation from Daniel W. Blair (about whom I know nothing else!): “Man in his spiritual pride has exchanged God’s method of self-denial for Satan’s plan of self–improvement.” I will not become more grateful and less whiney by my own efforts, but only by the application of Paul’s instruction to the Romans: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)