Opposition

Okay- I'm going to get philosophical again. I guess as a grandmother of 15 I can be entitled to think I'm learning a little wisdom. Despite the fear of running out of fossil fuel and the volatile prices of gas, Russ and I have been doing a lot of driving lately. He has started a business with a friend, chauffeuring. It's mostly runs to and from the airports in the area. That, along with the many trips to Cincinnati, and occasionally up to Huber Heights, requires a constant refilling of our gas tanks. As I got a little excited recently by being able to fill our tank for under $20, I thought about how much more grateful I am for $1.44 a gallon now than I might have been a couple of years ago. Why? Because, knowing how bad it feels to pay nearly $4 a gallon, the $1.44 feels pretty good! I thought about how my children, and now my grandchildren, have not always appreciated the meals I have tried to make taking into consideration their likes and dislikes, what money we had, what time I had for preparation, and what nutritional value they needed. They have not always appreciated the time spent gathering, sorting, loading into the washing machine, then either hanging out or loading into the dryer, their clothes so I could fold them and deliver them to their rooms so they could have clean, attractive clothes to wear. Why? Because they didn't experience the opposite. In the Carole King song, she repeats the old saying, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone". It's actually good for parents to NOT do everything nice for their kids. It's good for the kids to experience what is involved in getting a house clean, a meal prepared, planning a family home evening lesson or other activity involving several people. How can they really appreciate the sun coming up in the morning if they never experience a totally cloudy day? What is there that I don't appreciate because I take it for granted? I know I am really grateful for friends that love and support me because I can't always be with them so I miss them when the years go by without the opportunity to be in their company. I'm grateful for loved ones who speak encouraging words and praise me because I have felt the sting of criticism (expecially from teenagers who seem to always know more than anyone else) and the discouragement of feeling alone in my labors. I sometimes wish I could help loved ones out of all of their difficulties. But then I realize that if they never go through hard times, they will never realize how wonderful it is when someone DOES help. They would be like the people who are 3rd or 4th generation welfare recipients and feel they're "entitled". I remember reading things about being grateful for trials and not being able to comprehend it. Now I can. I know that wisdom truly does come AFTER the experience of opposition in all things- good and bad, easy and difficult, pain and happiness, love and hate. I feel I can make a better choice now. This is why I have lived here on earth.