Gratitude

This past Sunday’s sermon at church left me with mixed emotions. On one hand I have come a long way with regards to this topic, and on the other I have so much work to do. The main point of the sermon was to be grateful in all circumstances. It encompassed the idea of patience and entitlement. One particular illustration was about a funeral precession and how in our culture, out of respect, it is tradition that people in their cars would pull over and allow the precession to pass by. Today IF people still pull over you can look at the mannerism of the onlookers you can see that they are annoyed, impatient, and inconvenienced. Instead of being prayerful for the family and friends that have lost a love one or grateful for the blessings in their own life, they are worried about the appointment they will be late for. I could go on with the other illustrations and such, but the point is we are of a generation and culture who feels entitled. We especially feel entitled to instant information and instant gratification. I have come a long way in the past few years with my feelings of gratefulness and recognizing my blessings. But I have a long way to go in the area of patience and my sense of entitlement to the things I want done. The entitlement I feel isn’t really toward material things it is more toward MY timeline and MY plans. I know that God is trying to beat this lesson into me with leading us into a second international adoption. I must say though I am a slow learner!
A little update on paperwork – we have the approved homestudy back from DCFS. So today we mailed off a packet of information to USCIS or Immigration to update our I600 to reflect the new agency name in the homestudy. I thought that was the only paperwork we were waiting on to get back from the State, but I was wrong. We need Lutheran Family Services’ letter of good standing from the State. It has supposedly been sent…. One week from today I will be in Springfield for my work meeting. I feel ENTITLED to have all of the documents in my hand so I can stop by the Secretary of State’s office that day and get the documents apostilled. I just don’t see why MY timeline doesn’t line up with everyone else’s ALL of the time! (I told you I am a slow learner.)

Daily prayer continues to be for a safe, productive, and speedy harvest!