Had a good day?

I came home from work the other day and my wife asked me if I'd had a good day.  The day had just been another of those run-around-all-day types, with the usual problems and little frictions that are part of any workday.  So my instinctive reaction to the question was simply to heave a little sigh of relief to be home, explain that it was just another day, and that nothing particularly good happened. 

My good wife's immediate response to that was to gently remind me that we have such blessed lives, practically any day in which nothing bad happens can pretty much be counted as an amazing day!  She's right of course.  We live in a country that's safe for our friends and family.  We have jobs, a home, a happy family.  We have a wonderful church family, and even have the means and opportunity to bless others.

I remember that when I was growing up, I lived in a four-room flat with my parents, my brother, my grandmother, two aunties, one uncle and his wife and daughter, and in the daytime, two more cousins would often come over to be looked after.  My family would sleep in one room, with my parents on the bed and my brother and I on a mattress on the floor, my aunties in another room, my uncle and his family in yet another, and my grandmother on the floor of the hall.  So that's 10 people in a flat at night, 12 in the day.

I don't recall ever thinking we were poor.  And I genuinely don't think that we were.  We always had good food to eat from my grandmother's kitchen, and I never felt that we lacked for books and toys.  So I'm sure that there were many people poorer than us in those days.

Today, the vast majority of us own our own home.  Even in the rental flats where we do our monthly community blessing, each flat is generally occupied by a single family.  This suggests that the tide has lifted all boats.  The problem of course is that the tide has lifted some boats very very far upshore.  We're talking about the uber-rich in their multiple fancy cars and houses of course.  So, while objectively almost everyone is now much better off than we were in the 70s and 80s, the disparity between different families has also grown glaringly wide. This leads to the old 人比人，气死人 problem.  Clearly, that's something that we need, as a society, to try to address.

I think this imbalance is an inevitable product of capitalism, which for the most part our country has embraced and reaped the benefits.  The challenge now is to figure out where's the best place to stand on the capitalism-socialism spectrum, given the state of our country's development today.

But while we grapple with the fiendishly difficult task of re-balancing capitalism with socialism, and while we should certainly strive with all our might to make things even better, and better for EVERYONE, it's important to remain grateful.  I worry that my kids will grow up thinking that it's a given to have their own rooms, a family car, to ask for books anytime they want, and to go for regular holidays.  It's great that I can provide for them in this way, but I wonder if they truly understand the sacrifices made by parents, grandparents etc to bring us to this happy place.  I sometimes see too much grumbling from them, or simply a lack of appreciation for what comfortable lives they lead.

But perhaps even more alarmingly, I myself have gotten used to having a job, a house and a car too. How often do I think that these things are my merely fair wages for my hard work, or even complain that they are not enough?  How often do I remember to be truly grateful for them?  If I can't even be grateful in my present circumstances, how can I be prepared to be grateful in less?

And how do I show my children and my friends and family, as an example to them, that I am indeed grateful?  Or do I spend more time grumbling about how my day wasn't as astounding as it should have been?  And if my children and friends and family don't see that I'm grateful, how can they learn to have a heart of gratitude themselves?

So my reflection this week is perhaps a bit prosaic, but none the less essential.  Simply learn to be more grateful, and so end up being happier.  Have a great weekend and week ahead, living joyfully and gratefully, and giving thanks in all circumstances.  We have so much to be grateful for - so the next time someone asks you how your day was, tell them, "GREAT!" :)

Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.