The Religion of Dissatisfaction

I have just had a personal epiphany.... well, maybe MORE than personal.... but let's see how this comes out of my head and into words.

The religion I was raised in taught me...encouraged me...forced me...guilted me....into being dissatisfied.

Dissatisfied with what?

EVERYTHING.

Dissatisfied:

discontented, malcontent, unsatisfied, disappointed, disaffected, unhappy, displeased; disgruntled, aggrieved, vexed, annoyed, irritated, angry, exasperated, fed up.

I was "autosinging" an old church song this morning, and realized that it was just a big apology to God for what He had made and how He had made it (me!)

I have a running dialog with God most of the day and night....at least, I hope it's him I am talking to! What I just found though, is that I "autoapologize" to God ALL of the time. 

When the thoughts that pop into my head aren't really that nice, I apologize. When someone else says things against God or Jesus, I apologize. When I growl at myself in the mirror for being out of shape, I apologize for growling. When I complain, I apologize. When I see beggars on the street corner and growl toward them because they are playing with their smartphones, while asking me for money - I apologize. When I see a television preacher and quickly move past it, I apologize just in case God likes them better than I do :)

So, what if, instead of apologetic, I became GRATEFUL? And instead of dissatisfaction, I replaced it with JOY?

Yep... that's what I'm gonna do.

Were They Angels?

Six years ago while working in property management, I encountered two homeless women in one day - unrelated to one another. I overheard conversations they had with our team at different times of the day and they were both crying helplessly and didn't know what to do. They didn't have a place to live. One had slept on a bench with her dog the night before. That is when I invited Anna, Janna and her dog Hannah (pictured below) (you can't make this stuff up....) into my apartment to stay until they could find a place to live. Now, lest you think I am mini-Mother Teresa, this had not previously happened and will likely never happen again. I lived alone at the time and it was just the right time and the right place. When my regional manager got wind of it, she called and gave me an earful and an ultimatum. She warned me that they could steal all of my stuff (to which I answered - it's just stuff and I don't care that much about it.) She warned me that they could kill me (to which I answered - I was ready to go anyway.) She told me to take care of it or I would be terminated. 
In fact, it was such a bizarre turn of events that when I was invited to my new friends' dinner party, I asked if I could bring my "houseguests" - they hesitantly said yes and we had an... er.... interesting night!
Why am I telling this story? Well, these little pictures of the dog Hannah popped up in my memory feed and I remembered that time. 

 

It never occurred to me to NOT ask them to stay. I actually told my regional that I would do it again if it came up because at the time, it was the right thing to do. They didn't stay long. They didn't steal anything. And I have not seen them since.
After all was said and done, I remember that in the Bible it said, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Sheesh, maybe they were angels.... even the dog.
Any angels show up at your door?