Quit yer whinin'!

As I write this post, I'm sitting at my Mac and I'm literally covered in dirt. The pool is up, it's filled with water, the pump & filter is installed... now all we need is electrical service run out to the pump. Digging the trench is my job and, I have to admit, I completely underestimated how much time and effort it would take to dig an 18-inch deep gully across a small patch of my back yard. The challenges are compounded by the fact that we live in an exceptionally rocky area so my afternoon and evenings have gone something like this:

• Shovel for a bit
• Swing mattock (the pick axe thingy, not Andy Griffith... he's "Matlock") for a bit 
• Stoop to pull boulder out of ground 
• Move up two inches 
• Repeat 

There are times when I'm in the middle of said project when I begin cursing, grunting and otherwise pissing and moaning about how miserable I am. Then tonight, just as I was beginning my second such rant for the evening, a thought occurred to me: I'm doing this work so my family can enjoy having a pretty sizable pool in the yard - something that I've always wanted as well - and that there's a means to an end. 

Then I realized that in the midst of one of the worst economic times in recent memory, I am blessed enough to have a job that I love and the means by which to have this pool installed. I'm healthy enough that I can do this digging and hauling on my own. And that my kids are thoughtful enough to periodically run outside to see how they can help or to bring me a cold drink. Then, to cap it all off, I feel incredibly selfish and childish for even complaining in the first place.

God has a wonderful way of reminding us of the blessings we have in our lives and I'm grateful of the very subtle and polite, but firm and unquestionable way of saying: "Okay, enough whining kid... get back to work."