Thanks for the pain

Have you thanked God for pain recently? Its pretty easy to walk around singing God's praises when everything is going right, and there are no obstacles to overcome. You see people everyday, driving around in their Jaguars and Lexuses (or is it Lexusi?) with their little fishes on the back of the car, and singing praise to God for all His blessings. And there is nothing wrong with thanking God for bestowing great things upon you. But it is very easy to curse God when things go wrong, too.

I may not mean it when I say it, but G.D. is a very common curse that comes out of my mouth, especially when stuck behind one of these fishy cars in the leftmost lane holding back a line of traffic on I-75 South. Who do these people think they are, impeding my way? Don't they know I like to drive at least 10 miles above the speed limit? And that work is the single most important thing on my agenda today, and they are preventing me from getting there in time to get a hot cup of coffee and chat with my colleagues about how poorly the Bengals played yesterday?

It doesn't occur to us as we are cursing the lane hog that we are being impeded for a reason. Maybe it is so that we will miss that terrible accident that would have occured if we were set free. Maybe there is a reason to get you fired up, get the juices flowing for some encounter you will have during the day. Maybe you just needed more time for reflection this morning.

Take the time to thank God for the obstacles, too.