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Deserving
The weather is beautiful, isn’t it? Well, I think so. Absolutely wonderful.
Last night I was enjoying the sunset while I was eating my single, animal style burger at In-n-Out (A loosely veiled named for the cosequence of eating at said establishment), and had this thought:
What do we deserve?
The sunset was gorgeous. The edge of the horizon was crimson red and the purplish-black White Tank mountains were offset by the traffic cone orange clouds creeping across the sky. Like I said, gorgeous. But it took me awhile to actually appreciate this. Beautiful sunsets are common here in the dusty desert of Phoenix. The pollution, smog and dust all help filter the last moments of sunlight and create a prism effect that is second to none. Anyway, the point is that I take them for granted. In fact, I take pretty much all the small gifts in life for granted. I expect roses to smell wonderful and bees to enjoy their splendor. I expect children to run wildly about with beaming faces and cheery voices debating who is, and who is not “it”. I expect amazingly complex combustion engines to get me from one point to the other. And I expect that the operators of these machines understand the rules of engagement on the road.
All these things that I take for granted. All these amazing everyday miracles. I don’t see them as miracles because I have come to think that I deserve them. I deserve sunsets, flowers, advanced trasportation, entertainment, a beautiful community. But the truth is that I can never truly appreciate or understand the value of anything until I fully believe that it is a gift. An undeserved gift.
That’s all I have tonight. I’d love to hear what you have to think about this, though. That is, if you think I deserve a comment.
Cheers,
Sam
“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him.”
King Solomon
Amy October 29th, 2006 21:20 pm
I believe that pretty much everyone see past the “gifts” that are given to us daily. We do take everything for granted in a way that most people don’t think much about it. With all the media and technological advances in life, people see past the natural beauty and go for the generic and easy way out. People make too many excuses now to try and get arround what they know is there but do not want to take a few minutes to appriciate. Today, was a beautiful day, a “gift” one may say. The sky and clouds set a perfect day to do what ever one may have had plan, yet how many actually took the time to enjoy today? Even though I worked and was running arround for my mother today, I thank god for this beautiful “gift” that he had made today.
I see where you are coming from and not many people would write a blog about such view, the fact that you did is amazing and I thnak you for it. I like things that have meaning and that revolves arround ones everyday life. Such disscussions are important and should be disscused about more often. I’ve never been on this site, until you posted saying that you had a blog. You are awesome Sam!
Peace and Love,
Amy
Steve October 31st, 2006 13:38 pm
I appreciate the beauty of an impromptu lan-party. I also appreciate the magnificent yellows and deep oranges of dog vomit, sprayed willy-nilly about my kitchen floor.
Laker November 1st, 2006 08:47 am
I appreciate people making use of under-utilized words and phrases, like Steve’s use of the term “willy-nilly” above.
And, Sam, I think you have a great point. Unfortunately, it’s a point that I know I’m bound to forget again (and again and again…) in the future. Which is why I need reminders like this every so often, if not more frequently.
Brad November 2nd, 2006 08:23 am
I agree with everything Steve says, except replace ‘dog’ with ‘cat’.
Phoenix November 2nd, 2006 17:13 pm
It always perpelexes me why people can get into their car every day and drive somewhere without having the slightest idea that thousands of controlled explosions are getting them there.
Jess November 20th, 2006 14:08 pm
I’m sure you know it already, but I’ll say it anyway… this thought is not an original one. But it is important. And beautiful. I think it blesses the Lord greatly to see people having this particular thought of all possible thoughts. It’s humbling. It’s putting God in his rightful place, while also putting man in his rightful place. This thought is recurrent for me. It circulates into and out of my mind irregularly but definitely. I don’t know when or how often it comes, but I assume it’s the Holy Spirit’s doing every time. Like, a little nudge or something.