Did You Hear Janie Has a New Wheat Grinder?

Ok. So maybe you're not coveting a wheat grinder, but what about someone's book collection? Her house? Her recent vacation? Her freedom? Her hours of "alone" time?

Are you coveting someone's family size or income? Maybe you're coveting the atmosphere in another's woman's home or the way she finds the best deals at garage sales or the number of friends she has. Maybe you're coveting her way with words, her baking skills, or her knack for posting Facebook updates that get hundreds of "likes,"--you know, deep stuff like, "just painted my nails chartreuse."

Nothing is out of reach of our sinful hearts. We can envy big thing or small things, the most serious things or the most ridiculous. When someone has something we want, and our wanting leads to sinning, we've already forgotten Who the Giver of the gift is. We forget we're bristling against God's sovereign care of us. We mimic the sibling who throws herself on the floor and screams, "That's not fair!"

We just do it with a bit more self-control, at least on the outside.

But what if every time we're tempted to covet what someone else has and withhold good words of affirmation, to refuse to rejoice with those who rejoice, or to simply ignore another's blessings, we remember it is from His Hand that all these blessings flow?

"Women tend to grouse about the blessings God give to others. But if we looked at it in those terms, that God has blessed Janie with a new wheat grinder, we would probably be much less likely to complain and covet. It's much easier to complain when we think circumstances happen at random, than when we remember that God brings all things to pass."
~Denise Sproul, Tending Your Garden

With love,
Trisha