Memories of Egypt

I heard a sermon last week about the Israelites wandering in the desert and 'remembering' how great it had been to live in Egypt. As they complained about their plight in the desert and spent time dwelling on their current circumstances, they suddenly remembered Egypt with fondness...instead of remembering their slavery and oppression, they remembered being well fed and taken care of. Instead of opening their eyes to see how God was providing for them in the desert, they conveniently forgot about how horrible Pharaoh had been to them and their families.

I've been thinking about this lately in relation to my selective memory. It's easy to be discontent with where I'm at and think of how great I used to have it...living on a lake, surrounded by friends, a desk job...it sounds wonderful and appealing, and sometimes, like the Israelites, I wonder why I left. But if I'm really honest with myself, I have to remember the bad things too. I don't need to go into detail, but it wasn't perfect. When I was there, I 'remembered' other times and places with fondness too and wished I could have those things back. It's hard to be content.

Why is it that when we're in the middle of a situation, we so clearly see the bad things and find anything to complain about, but when we look back, we see the good and wish for it back or wish we had enjoyed it more? Why not focus on the good while we've got it?

At this moment, I'm sitting at a coffee shop downtown. The sun is shining, there's a nice breeze, I have no place to be for the next few hours. What a blessing. I could complain about why I have this free time...I was a bit annoyed this morning when I found out some other plans had been cancelled, but if that hadn't been so, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to enjoy one of the last days of summer. So that's what I intend to do. :)

I started this post thinking I would write about some other 'days gone by' that I've been thinking of after visiting my old neighborhood in VA, but that can wait for another day. I don't want to miss this one!