The Contents of my Refrigerator

"There's nothing to eat in the fridge," I said glibly and hurriedly in a passive aggressive tone to my bride.

"Oh, I'm not complaining..." I fumbled for a quick follow up for Amber who was in earshot, trying to cover my tracks with a healthy dose of self-deception.

After a few moments, the Spirit shone a light into the dark recesses of my soul where grumbling and complaining sit like stagnant water. Were the shelves a bit sparse? Yes. Was there food? Yes. More food and more diversity than most in the world enjoy? Yes. What I was really saying was, "I'm tired of eating what's in the fridge. I want something more exciting and comforting to act as a balm to my aching soul right now."

"Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" - those are the sagacious, timeless and cutting words of my Lord.

Later that day as I was reflecting on this seemingly innocuous encounter with the contents of my refrigerator and the contents of my heart, I chuckled.

Earlier that morning while reflecting on the grumbling and complaining of the liberated people of God which we find in the book of Numbers, I took that as a nudge to pray and ask the Lord to aid me in not being a complainer like "those" short-sighted, ungrateful Israelites who had just been freed from slavery. How could they complain about God's provisions in the wilderness? How?! He had just performed the greatest liberation at that point in human history and they had the gall to complain about the food he was generating for them in the wilderness. Those ingrates! How could they be so myopic!

Oh, wait.