Just a random thought about entitlement …

We talk a lot about this monster called “entitlement” that is slowly eating away at the fabric of our nation…

how it creates a sense of being owed something in people and how it interferes with work ethic and perpetuates a bad attitude.

And we can see it all over the place…all the time…

but lately I have noticed it showing up in a most uncomfortable location.

Namely my mirror.

Here are a few examples of how I have been convicted of this in my own heart.

First off, I take a ridiculous amount of pictures.

And I save most of them.

On top of my own, I save a lot of the ones our family sends us.

As a result, I currently have 33,423 saved on both…yes both…our PC and my laptop. I also have about that many in a file that was saved from our OLD computer…I know.

Then I have 3,033 on my phone not counting the 442 hanging on for dear life in my Recently Deleted file.

Every now and again, I think I should probably look into some kind of storage place for them but gosh darn it…I don’t want to pay for it.

I was mulling it over the other day in the car, plotting and planning how I could somehow find someplace to store all this treasure trove of pictures and fuming about how I didn’t want to pay a monthly fee to someplace that stores digital records and it hit me.

Good grief.

Back in the old days I bought a camera, and film, and batteries. I paid to have the pictures developed and I bought albums and boxes and all manner of scrapbooking materials to preserve them. (I didn’t actually scrapbook….but I do have all the supplies if and when I ever decide to do that)

So now I use my phone, download them to my computer and grouse at the thought of having to give some money to someplace to keep them in a file in case this computer ever crashes.

And that, my friends, is E.N.T.I.T.L.E.M.E.N.T.

By golly the internet OWES me.

Or here is another one.

Every morning I write this post and then I share it to FaceBook so that it stands a better chance of finding people who might need a word of encouragement.

Normally it works great, I share it and it randomly picks a picture from the post and adds the title. Looks amazing. Click share and post and done.

Except the past two weeks, for some unknown reason it is hit or miss on the picture being included.

I love pictures. (proof would be in the paragraphs above about the sheer volume of them taking up space on my hard drive and memory)

And I am all mad at this vehicle that provides me, FOR FREE, a way to share what I write, because it didn’t perform the way I wanted it to.

E.N.T.I.T.L.E.M.E.N.T.

There are all sorts of things in this age of INSTANT that fuel this potential in me to think that I should be catered to and served…

<3 ordering online; because the stores are closed but I want to shop

<3 drive thru fast food, banking, dry cleaning, coffee shops; because I don’t want to have to park my car and walk in to do my business

<3 texting; because I want to tell you something RIGHT NOW, and I expect you to answer ASAP

<3 weather forecasts, latest ballgame scores, medical information, store fliers, directions…everything is at my fingertips right now…

unless I hit an area with poor internet coverage and then I am fit to be tied.

E.N.T.I.T.L.E.M.E.N.T.

I am thankful for the nudges I have been receiving lately that remind me that the world doesn’t owe me a thing.

Nor does God.

In fact, quite the opposite…He has given me what I don’t deserve and didn’t earn…

GRACE

FORGIVENESS

MERCY

A NEW LIFE

His holiness for my sorry selfishness.

He calls me His child…

and I respond by looking for ways to serve…

instead of ways to be served <3