Waiting for God....

Did you wake up this morning bemoaning the state of your life, whinging about the things that keep going wrong, whilst conveniently forgetting the things that are going right? If you didn’t, as long as we are telling the truth, can I confess that I did? It’s just a terrible habit that emanated out of being a spoilt child, who practically had everything he asked for and to make it worse, a child that was shielded from the harsh realities of life.

This morning was particularly bad, as I just discovered that I had run out of coffee and suddenly all the bad news being relayed on CNN about some starving people somewhere in Africa, got pushed to the back of my mind and relegated by the much more life-threatening issue of my empty daily stimulant jar. So, you can imagine my shame when a radio DJ mentioned the three year anniversary of Dana Reeves’ death. Dana Reeves? Who is she I hear you ask. And why would her name spring forth my shame, of all emotions?

Well, for those who do not know, Dana Reeves was Christopher Reeves’ wife. Remember the guy who played Superman? Yes, that’s him. The guy, who fell off a horse in 1995, severed his spinal cord and remained paralysed until his death in 2004. His widow, Dana, left her job and devoted herself to the 100% care of the ‘man who could no longer fly’. Ten months after his sad demise, Dana announced to the world that she had lung cancer and as if this family hadn’t suffered enough, she lost her fight for life in March 2006. Now, add to that the fact that the DJ has just mentioned the three children the couple left behind and I would think my coffee tantrum did warrant my induction into the Hall of Shame.

So many times we refuse to see the silver lining in the clouds of our lives and instead invest in dark, quiet moments of unwarranted grief. Maybe it might be advisable to minimise our failures, maximise our successes and remember that the reason why God does not give us all we want, might be due to the fact that he is too busy giving us all we need. For instance - forgive the crude parallels – maybe Africans do genuinely ‘want’ accountable and forthright leaders, but God is giving is currently supplying us with a trailer load of rubbish, because that is what we ‘need’ to get to the point where we say ‘no mas’ and mean it!

It’s just a thought…….