But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God,
the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow.
James 1:17 Living Bible
Years ago, my daughter-in-law and I had a weekly booth at the French Market, which ran from April through November. We – along with about 20 others – sold beaded jewelry.
So it was, in frigid late November, after drinking gallons of coffee to try to stay warm, that the inevitable happened. I needed to use the bathroom. Fortunately, there were port-a-potties. Unfortunately, they were as cold as the great outdoors. Maybe colder.
As I hastily undid layers of clothing and seated myself, I had an a-ha moment. This was exactly like the “good old days,” before indoor plumbing. And in spite of the inconvenience, I felt very blessed.
Mod Cons, an informal British phrase short for “Modern Conveniences,” are the amenities and appliances characteristic of a well-equipped modern house that contribute to an easier and more comfortable way of life. And many of them have been around so long that that they are taken for granted.
In the late 1800s, modern conveniences included:
*Kitchens with hot and cold running water
*Separate bathrooms with sinks and toilets
*A furnace
*Gas lighting
*An icebox
If you had these things, you were probably wealthy.
But they didn’t have:
*Vacuum Cleaners (1901)
*Radios (patented in 1904)
*Washing machines (1907)
*Insulin (1921)
*Antibiotics (1928)
*Sliced bread (1928)
* Cake mix (1949)
*Polio vaccine (1955)
Today most of us have:
Home air conditioners (1914)
Electric dishwashers (1929)
Microwave ovens (1967)
Color television (commercially available in 1950)
Personal computers (1975) and the World Wide Web (1990s)
And cell phones. “Smart,” or not.
No matter how you view them, these things have made life easier and more comfortable for us. Let’s be mindful, and grateful.
If you go back a few hundred years,
what we take for granted today would seem like magic –
being able to talk to people over long distances,
to transmit images, flying,
accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle.
These are all things that would have been considered magic
a few hundred years ago. – Elon Musk
So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive. All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God’s gift. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 Good News Translation