So how about this weather huh? If I hear one more person
complain that it is too hot I am going to lose it. It was too cold a few months
ago, and it is too wet, or too dry, or too meh no matter what day it is. It
seems that there is nothing more normal than complaining about the weather.
In general, even, complaining seems to be taking over as the
normal way of being. I do not know how many of you are on Social Media
platforms such as Facebook or Twitter; but I have noticed a sharp rise in the
amount of complaining people do. If it is not the weather someone is
complaining about work, or about the behaviour of friends, or the government.
Some of these complaints, even all of these complaints, may
be valid. By that I mean to say that the particulars may be true, that the
weather may be hot or that your friends may have acted dumb… but the real
question is what is it doing to you to complain all the time.
Taking a global look at it the Bible starts with this story
of the creation of plants, animals, sun moon and stars, even human beings; and
each time the thing is made, they are declared to be “good.” So from this
perspective everything that is part of the created order is good already, so
who are we to complain about it?
But even more so, I see the entire ministry of Jesus as
being about bringing abundant life to people. It was about teaching us to live
in a loving grateful way that realized just how blessed we are. In fact he would take the people that most
people felt were outsiders and remind them that their lives had value – he
would look at the rich people and remind them to feel blessed.
And he taught it is simple traditional ways too, saying
grace before a meal, or praying at the end of the day to say thank you.
See, I really feel that attitude is everything when it comes
to life. I suspect that part of what Sunday school, church, the Bible, Jesus
and the whole lot of them were trying to instill in me was an attitude shift…
one towards good news, towards gratefulness, towards love, towards happiness.
One of the traditional mantras of Buddhism is that all of
life is suffering. You may have heard that before. But the thing is we
westerners take that the wrong way. Sure, life is suffering because there is
always pain… but the idea of Buddhism is to rise above the suffering, to detach
one’s self from the suffering, and to come to know peace.
I see religious teaching whether we are talking Islamic,
Buddhist, or Christian as being a sort of “yes, but” reaction to the world. Yes,
there are always going to be things wrong, but there are always going to be
second chances, and things that make up for it.
And again, what matters is attitude. David played music and
danced when he was happy, Jesus went to parties and ate and drank with friends
over good conversation, the apostles went out fishing together when they were
bored. All of them seized the opportunities to get the best out of the
situation, and they had fun, they enjoyed life, and lived it.
At one point Jesus says, so the record says, “I came that
you might have life, and have it abundantly.” So the real question is how are
you celebrating the abundance of your life?
