One of Life's Lessons

"We have to change our patterns of reacting to experience. For our problems do not lie in what we experience, but in the attitude we have towards it."

At the risk of complaining...

*I spent two hours yesterday trying to pay my water bill--the meter was read in March and again on Monday, yet when I've gone in, there's no record of the reading. When I tell them I really want to pay so that I can avoid some gigantic bill, they insist that I drive a meter reader back to the house to read it again. Which I do. Then I drive him back because it will be "just a few minutes to record the reading and print the bill." And I leave 45 minutes later, late for a meeting, with no bill ready. Today when I show up, naively assuming that it would be ready, I finally get the bill an hour later. Oh, and the bill is almost $80 in arrears from before we moved in. Guess who gets to work through that?

*We ordered some tables and chairs from a workshop in March. They are beautiful! Again, naively, we assumed this man would do the same quality of work on the bookcases and benches we ordered. Two weeks later than he promised, we get the benches. They were stained, evidently during some type of stampede, because there are spots all over where the stain was rubbed off. And the workers set the stain cans on the wet stain. And the bookcases were not sanded well and were also not poly'd--just raw wood. We have made 3 trips back and forth with these bookcases (who are the verge of earning their own frequent flier miles) to try to impress on this man that we would like the same quality of work that he delivered on the first order.

*We met with the chaplain of the Maasae Girls' School who shared with us the reality of working on teacher development in Tanzania. While we really didn't expect (or necessarily want) to transform people into replicas of American education, it was an eye-opener to hear about the resistance to change that the teachers had. It was a reminder of how much learning we will do while we are here.

*We have had a little engine trouble with the new truck. Nothing serious, but several things have come up. The dealer is very willing to make repairs--but only repairs the one thing that is not working. Finally, we had to visit him today to impress upon him the need to not only fix the problem, but really go over the engine to make sure nothing else is about to go out.

We came to Tanzania, after all, because it was different, in part because we felt that there were things about living in the States that we wanted to get away from. And Tanzania really is wonderful. One of the blessings about being here is that you get beyond the picture of destitution and hopelessness that is often broadcast to the rest of the world. You really do get to see the beauty of the land and the people and the blessings that are here and for that we are so greatful.

But this week we are struggling with our attitudes and how easy it is to fall into a pattern of negativity and criticism, too look around and sniff and say, "This place is a mess." How presumptuous of us! The frustrating part for me, personally, is that I run through a litany of thoughts and feelings before getting around to just praying about it. Forgetting to pray until I've used up all the other options has always been a weakness, but doing it my way wastes so much more effort!

So the quote at the top of the page is to remind me that the only person or thing I can change is myself. In every interaction or situation I have a choice to make about how to react and how to feel. And it's my decision in that respect that will determine how I feel about what is happening.

So there's our homework for the next week--and month--and year.