(From time to time I will write on something that just pops into my mind. Those will be in the category of Random. This is one of those!)
There is a story about four generations of women who were in the home of the youngest one admiring her new house and particularly the kitchen. The young woman said that she couldn't imagine getting along without her built-in microwave. She turned to her mother and said what is your favorite convenience in your kitchen. The mother replied that the dishwasher saved her hours of standing at the sink washing dishes. Then the young woman turned to her grandmother and asked the same question. Her grandmother said that the refrigerator was her favorite because they didn't have to have a block of ice delivered for the old style icebox. Finally the young woman turned to her great grandmother and asked, "Grammy, what is your favorite convenience in the kitchen?" Without hesitation Grammy answered, "running water"
From generation to generation we continually look for ways to make things more convenient for living. While I have no problem with convenience, I wonder how many things we have lost simply because doing something the old way became inconvenient. Several days ago my son Kevin called and our conversation went from one topic to another. One of those topics began with the word inconvenient.
Kevin is a deacon in his church in San Antonio. He grew up with me as his pastor. It is natural that some of our conversations are about church. We discussed two different aspects of church life that have changed as inconvenience gave way to convenience. The first topic was financial offerings. Both he and myself now utilize the electronic transfer of funds that is offered by our churches. It makes giving easy and truthfully, mindless. He said that now children don't see parents writing a check or taking out cash to put in the offering plate if their church even uses offering plates. This old way became inconvenient but it was also a teaching tool within the family about the importance of tithing and giving.
Our second topic was about communion or the Lord's Supper. In the past, deacons gathered to pour juice into small cups and break bread into smaller pieces. There was fellowship and reflection about the meaning of the elements. Today many churches use prepackaged elements that became popular after the Covid-19 pandemic. The real change that resulted from moving from the inconvenience of preparation to the convenience of easy preparation is that churches may spend more time explaining how to open the prepackaged elements than explaining the real meaning of the Lord's Supper.
These topics took my mind back to 1980 when our family moved to a new town in Texas to plant a church. One of the practical needs was the cleaning of our building and the upkeep of the landscape. We didn't have the money to hire it done (convenient) so families volunteered to clean the church and mow the grass (inconvenient). I remember one Sunday a young family came in and their seven year old boy said, "I helped get the church ready for worship by helping clean the building." A girl about his age heard his words and turned to her mother and asked, "when can we help get the church clean and ready?" Inconvenience has some benefits.
My thoughts are not all about the church. The same is true in daily family life. My wife is a great cook and Thanksgiving excites her. While many restaurants offer Thanksgiving meals (and other holiday meals also) to order and pick up, we spend a week or more shopping and prepping various traditional foods following some of my grandmother's recipes that date back over one hundred years. While this appears inconvenient to many, it is one of the joys in our family as we gather to remember and enjoy both the food and our family heritage.
We have some dear friends that date back almost sixty years to our first days in college. They live a little over an hour's drive north of Denver. We live a little over an hour's drive south of Denver. Once every four to six weeks we all make the drive to Denver and meet at a restaurant. We eat and visit for two to three hours and then return to our homes. The traffic to Denver, in Denver, and back home is inconvenient, but the benefit of the visit with lifelong friends is far greater than the inconvenience of traffic.
As we live this week, are there lost benefits in your life or the life of your family that even with some inconvenience would be worth reclaiming? The road of convenience is broad and heavily traveled. The road of inconvenience is narrow and lightly traveled. But both have some benefits. Don't miss out on some simply because it might not be convenient.
Have a convenient and inconvenient week.
One of my favorite childhood memories is the inconvenience of making ice cream. Before electric ice cream freezers the adults in the family would take turns cranking the ice cream freezer. They would have to add ice and rock salt several times to the freezer bucket and crank until their arm nearly fell off. But no ice cream can compare to the frozen concoction made back then.
Your article made me think. We have been without a microwave for over a week and can't wait for our new one to get here. I remember when they first came out. What did we do before the microwave. 😁
Gary, My wife and I travel about an hour and one-half, one way, to see our grandson, now 10 months old, and his parents, as often as we can. I enjoy driving, but three hours on the roads between Colorado Springs and Denver for a never long-enough visit, could be considered inconvenient. I'll suffer that inconvenience as often as I can for the joy of building the relationship with my son, his wife, and my grandson. Jay