It's All in the Attitude

Since the end of May, we were living in a motel room in Medora, North Dakota.  A tourist town with a population of less than 100 people, it was the smallest town I have ever lived in.  It was an adjustment in the beginning - I was used to being able to run to Walmart or Target when I was out of whatever or when I would get home and realize that the one thing I went to the store for is the one thing I forgot to pick up (there was no Target folks - not even in the town 30 miles away...which is where the Walmart was).  

But the strange thing was, after time, we settled into a routine, a way of life there in Medora.  I forgot about Starbucks and Malls and started using cash since the local places didn't take credit/debit cards.  And although the food wasn't the most amazing we had ever had, we grew accustomed to iceberg lettuce and daily Pizza Parlor trips. And truly, there are very nice people in Medora and it was great to be able to visit with them and get to know them. 

I noticed, however, that it almost became annoying to us when we had to wait in line at the Pizza Parlor. I was appalled once that there were no places to park in front of the Chuckwagon Buffet.  When the sidewalks were crowded during the 4th of July, I became flustered and irritated wishing that my small town would go back to it's peaceful ways where the flag ceremony with horses and boy scouts and music on the speakers happened at 6:30 every evening.  Then it hit me.  I had developed Entitlement.  

This was not my town.  I did not deserve any of the privileges that I had become accustomed to by living there.  And it made me start to think about how much my heart really thinks it's entitled to.  I'm not saying that God doesn't want good things for us - this is just between me and God.  But really, living in Medora has made me realize that I think I "need" a lot and "should have" this or that.  When in reality, everything is a gift from God and my heart would fare better in having a thankful attitude instead of a "woe is me" attitude.