Entitlement

I have been doing a lot of thinking on the concept of entitlement lately. Part of this is because I am participating in a Bible study studying the book of Daniel, and one of the major themes in the first part of the book describes life in Babylon and what that means. Babylon was the best of the best, the richest of the richest; posh, beautiful, probably hard for us to even conceive how luxurious it was. Anyway, not to get into the deepest depths of the study, but Daniel lived in Babylon, but he wasn't of it. He didn't allow himself to get sucked into the pleasures of the charmed life. The leader of the study has encouraged us to think of ourselves as living in our own modern day Babylon, and though we are in it, we shouldn't succumb to it. We should set ourselves apart. So I have thought about entitlement. Simply living in the United States has made me think that I "deserve" certain things. Like heat. Everyone has heat, why shouldn't I be able to have heat? Well, I will, but it won't be for two more weeks. But how dare the service people make me wait that long? Or cars that run, and don't need repairs...why must we be burdened with a car repair right now, when we also are having furnace problems? And a sick dog...why is my dog sick again with this mysterious bacteria that makes him ill? I am not sure why I feel entitled to have life run smoothly, but for some reason I do feel that way. It makes me feel selfish when I really think about it. Yes, we have had a string of things that are building up and making us feel grumpy, at times very grumpy, especially with one another, but when I sit back and really think about how much more we have than most of the people in this world I am humbled.

Thankfully, the car repair was minor. The dog issue we are still dealing with, but it may take awhile to pinpoint what is the cause of these flare ups. And the weather has warmed considerably, so who needs a furnace? But it really is difficult at times not to let the day to day things creep in and make me feel ungrateful. I am working on it, but it is a process, and I can tell you I have already failed 1,001 times today alone. I was such a good student in school, that being such a poor student in life lessons has left me unsettled. I guess it just reinforces the truth that it is not about works, but the acceptance of grace.