Roughing It

Yesterday morning, Dave told me it felt he was sleeping on a prison mattress...not because he was in some foreign bed or having a late fall camp out...we were, in fact, in our own bed. Nope. This less-than-comfy sleep was a result of Luke having thrown up in our bed at 8 p.m. the previous evening. All over my pillow (and a good portion of the sheets, down comforter we sleep on, plus the wall and a bit of the floor for good measure). Which caused me to do the only logical thing (beside throw in a load of laundry and spot clean the down comforter)...take the softer of Dave's three pillows.

 Although I jest at this incident, it seriously does make me pause and wonder if all the comforts we create/desire/"need" for ourselves takes us farther away from the reality of God's kingdom. I see it in myself all the time. I see it in our children as young as they are (e.g. they absolutely must have they're fruit cut up because it's too hard to eat it off the core. Sheesh! What have we created?)

Not that comfort is a bad thing in itself. But I think when we get used to being comfortable, we come dangerously close to the borderline of thinking we're entitled to it. It doesn't help that we're living in a culture which encourages us to "keep up with the Jones's" and it often seems that everyone else has lands of weed-free lush greenness, so it's natural that we should have the same, right?

What are some of the clues that you may be taking some day trips into the land of entitlement. For me, it's a tantrum I throw when someone or something rains on my comfort parade. As an adult, my tantrums are usually as, ah, apparent as the one Ben throws, but there is definitely some mental foot stamping going on. General grumpiness and pouting are a couple others for me.

What are some of the areas where you sense you cross the border from enjoying the comforts God gives you into an area of entitlement? Here are some of mine:

• super soft bed and just-right-for-me pillow
• hot showers daily
• Sun maid raisins regularly available at our local discount store (so that I can avoid the times of Sunmaid raisinless droughts, I've learned to "stockpile" these babies...on second thought, maybe hoarding is a more truthful term. Ouch!)
• use of two cars
• food, and a variety of it, readily available
• laptop computer

I know there are a ton more, and many that aren't even in the material realm, but my brain's a little tired at the moment. So there I leave it...at least for now.