Blinded by Ingratitude
It is amazing to me that Black Friday falls on the day after Thanksgiving. In the thousands of ads we will see this week, it is easy to be reminded of what we do not have. This can lead to discouragement and the quest to find the perfect gift or the perfect items to fill our hearts. In our recent Treasure series, we talked a lot about how Jesus taught that where our treasure is, our hearts will also be. Something about this truth and the strange juxtaposition of these two big days on our calendar reminded me of the story, “The Window,” by G.W. Target. It is quoted below from Charles Swindoll's book Laugh Again:
“Two men were confined to a hospital room due to their illnesses. One man had to lie on his back at all times; the other had to sit up for one hour every day because of the accumulation of fluid in his lungs. His bed was next to the only window in the room. Each day for an hour, he would describe to the man in the hospital bed what he saw out the window. The man in bed began to live for that hour; his roommate spoke of the beautiful lake down below, describing the fishermen and the results of their efforts. Another day he described the skyline of the city on the horizon and the busy lives of the people living there. Mountains in the distance, capped with snow, were reported on other days. And so the months and seasons passed with these two men. Eventually, the man confined to his back began to resent the reports from the window. He was ashamed to admit it to himself, but it didn't seem fair that his roommate had a window by his bed. In time, this resentment turned to anger, and then bitterness. One night he was awakened by the coughing of the man next to him, desperately needing to clear his lungs. He looked over and saw him stretching to reach the call button for the nurse. It would have been easy to push his own call button, but he didn't. He chose to offer no help, and in a few moments, the coughing ended. It was replaced with labored wheezing, and finally . . . silence.
A few hours later, the nurse discovered that the patient by the window had died during the night. His body was removed from the room and the other man said quietly, "Since I am now alone in this room, may I have my bed moved where I can look out the window?" The nurse agreed, and after the bed had been moved and he was alone in the room again, he summoned all his strength to pull himself up on his elbows. At last, he would see all that awaited him outside his window. It was then that he made the discovery — outside the window, there was nothing except a brick wall.”
I am haunted by this story because it carries with it a relatable truth and a relatable warning. One man used his imagination to come up with a gift for his hospital roommate, the other found himself in the depths of greed and ingratitude. The end result was an embarrassing tragedy. When Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” He was saying something that carried both a promise and a warning. During this time of year that seems to stir up our longing for more, perhaps it is worth taking a minute to recalibrate and remember that as Christ followers, we are called to treasure very different things than what some do.
Expectantly,
Shawn
P.S. This evening at our Thanksgiving Eve service (6:30 PM) we will receive a special offering for the Hope Cares Pantry. If you have items to donate to the pantry, they can be dropped off tonight as well.
