Archive: June 24th, 2008

luxury

I have many things I could blog about right now, but I'm going to go for the least profound one because it is most immediately on my mind...
This morning, I was struck by the luxuriousness of my middle-class American life. This happens occasionally, but today it seemed to come out of nowhere...
On Saturday, the sun visor in my car stopped working - it wouldn't stay up. I was a big girl about it and immediately contacted the dealer, who confirmed that it would be covered under warranty. I took it in today.
Talk about luxury. I couldn't help but think about the slight ridiculousness that the repair itself was. Yes, it was annoying to have that visor constantly in front of my face. It was distracting and could be potentially hazardous if I needed a clearer view of what was in front of me. but still...how spoiled I am to even act under the assumption that a working sun visor is a necessity. Anyway, I got to the dealer, someone immediately came up to my car and I told them I was there for Shane. Shane came up probably no more than 2 minutes later and apologized for the "delay" - 2 minutes!! He showed me the way to the comfortable waiting area (which I already knew how to get to), where I got some work done on my laptop, then he came and got me 30 minutes later. I went and signed for my car, which was already pulled up with the keys in the ignition, conveniently turned around for me already so all I had to do was drive off with my brand new visor, which had been replaced at no cost to me.
I went from there to Safeway - just needed some bread, some stamps, and a birthday card for my sister. I was waiting in line in the express lane, with one person in front of me. Someone who appeared to be a manager came up and opened a lane to help me right away - as if I couldn't have waited 2 more minutes in the line I was in. I had my eye on some tea that was on sale at the register, so I picked that up - a 12-pack of small Lipton bottles. Both the cashier/manager guy and the lady bagging my groceries seemed genuinely concerned when I said I didn't need help out to the car and didn't need a cart to carry the tea. The guy said, "I guess you want your exercise today!" and I had a hard time not laughing. If carrying a couple pounds worth of tea to my car a few yards away is exercise, then...well...we're certainly in America.
My luxurious morning continued as I went (I'm ashamed to say, by car) to the coffee shop in the same center. I got my iced mocha while having a nice conversation with the owner, then sat and got some more things done.
It's funny, this thinking about the luxury of my life. Because I don't feel like anything I did today was particularly indulgent. Nothing extraordinary in the eyes of most people. but in comparison to the majority of the people living in this world, I truly live in the lap of luxury...for now. so i'm not feeling proud of it, but not guilty either...just aware, I guess. I'm thankful for this somewhat privileged life but also aware of the dangers of comfort to a soul longing to be daily satisfied in Christ alone.
There's a really great song by Andrew Peterson where he compares his life to that of someone in a tiny village in 3rd world country. He says,
"I'm just a little jealous of the nothing that you have,you're unfettered by the wealth of a world that we pretend is going to last.They say God blessed us with plenty,I say you're blessed with poverty,'cause you never stop to wonder whether earthis just a little better than than the Land of the Free."I don't ever want my life of comfort to remove from me the longing for Heaven. So I can sit here and be thankful for the easy events of my morning, but I do need to recognize the fleeting nature of all of these earthly comforts...by the grace of God.