Not something new but, it is amazing how much easier life is when you have an attitude of gratitude; something I recently learned for the umpteenth time in my life. It started like this…

Our church had been studying the book of Genesis. A book that I sometimes feel I’ve read so many times that it’s easy to zone out during the message and have an “I already know this” type of mindset. I have to say that that was impossible as each week’s presentation was both thought provoking and applicable to my life. Especially one story and teaching on the life of Joseph.
In case you are unfamiliar, the life of Joseph goes something like this…

Joseph at 17 years old was his father Jacob’s, favorite. So much so that Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat. Now, Joseph had eleven brothers, eventually the twelve tribes of Israel. They had different mothers, but still, lots of brothers. Joseph had dreams first that his brothers in the form of sheaves bowed down to his sheaf and then that the sun, moon and eleven stars (his parents and eleven brothers) were bowing down to him. His brothers were not fond of Joseph, for obvious reasons, and they were kind of put off by his dreams, so they sold him into slavery, killed a goat dipped his beautiful coat in the goat’s blood and brought it to their father. Jacob assumed Joseph was killed when he was, in fact, taken to Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, in Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph and Joseph finds favor with Potiphar and was made the overseer of Potiphar’s house. Potiphar’s wife “wanted” Joseph, but Joseph repeatedly turned her down. She grabbed his garment, he ran out of the house and she accused him of trying to “lie with her.” Joseph went to jail.
While in jail, the Lord was again with Joseph and he found favor with the keeper of the prison. Joseph was put in charge of all of the prisoners that were in the prison.
The cupbearer and the chief baker of the King of Egypt made Pharaoh angry and end up in prison with Joseph. They both had dreams, Joseph interpretted their dreams, one favorably the other not so favorably. Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him when he was released, which of course he did not do until…Pharaoh had a dream that nobody could interpret. Joseph was called up and interpretted Pharaoh’s dreams so well, that he was put in charge of all of the land of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.
As per Pharaoh’s dreams, there were seven years of plenty of food and then seven years of famine. Joseph, now 30 years old, had prepared Egypt for the famine by harvesting and saving food during the seven years of plenty. Joseph married, had two sons, and lived as an Egyptian. His brothers came to Egypt to buy food and long story short, he forgave them saying, “…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” In case you’d like to read this for yourself, it can be found in the Bible in Genesis chapters 37 – 50.

Fast forward to present day and Home Depot. If you’ve never had work done on your home through Home Depot, you really don’t know what you’re missing. If you ever want to test your patience and sanctification progress; I would highly recommend a home upgrade through Home Depot. You see when you contract with Home Depot, you’re not really working with Home Depot. They farm the work out to another company and sometimes not just one. Hence, the patience and sanctification test. So, here we go…
Mom needed new countertops. Her old laminate was disintegrating, literally. So Mom and I went to Home Depot and chose a lovely solid surface, think Corian, countertop with an integrated sink. We were then contacted by Z company to fill out our contract. After that we were contacted by C company for an appointment to make templates. Our contract with company Z said the counters would be installed and the job completed by October 30th. C company came and made the templates telling us the counters and sink would be completed in about two weeks. And so we waited. And we waited. And two weeks was long past. And then October 30th was here and gone. And when we’d heard nothing from either company, I called the number on our contract, which belonged to Z company. I left a very nice message and asked for an update or explanation, whichever they felt they could come up with. A week later I got an email. They had “just received” the materials and we would hear from them soon for an installation appointment. I was a little peeved, but my husband reminded me that a lot of materials have been delayed because of the virus that shall not be named. And so, we waited some more, because really what else could we do and reminded ourselves that at least Mom did have a working sink and countertop.
After another long wait with no contact from either company, I called Z company again. I got another email stating that our installation date would be that following Monday between 12 and 4. I responded with great joy telling them that would be perfect! Well, Monday came, counters were cleared in expectation and nobody showed up. I called and left a not-so-nice message. On Tuesday, I got an actual phone call from Z company.

“We couldn’t install your counters on Monday because you didn’t confirm the email we sent.” Needless to say, I lost it and for all intents and purposes ripped the lady a new fanny. Pardon my wording, but I did. She told me she’d get back to me. Not 20 minutes later, I got a call from C company. I was back in my right mind and asked what exactly was going on. He explained.
“Home Depot contracts with Z company for their granite countertop orders, but Z company doesn’t do solid surface. So Z company contracts with C company for those orders.”
Okay. The good news is that C company was installing the counters and sink that Friday. The bad news is that I heard from Z company again.
“Good news! Your counters and sink will be installed on Thursday.The reason they couldn’t be installed on Monday was because C company broke your counters and had to start all over.” What???
I informed Z company that I’d just heard from C company and they told me they were installing on Friday. The lady was fuming.
“OMG!!! They are not supposed to contact you! I have your installation set for Thursday!”

I informed her that since C company had actually made the counters and had them in their possession and were the actual installers, I was going with the Friday date. She said she’d call me back. I seriously prayed that she wouldn’t. I had decided that I was going to call Home Depot to complain about Z company. I thought of everything I was going to say. My attitude stunk and I knew it.
It was about this time that the Lord brought to my mind the Sunday message and Joseph. The Lord’s good like that. Here Joseph had been sold into slavery, accused falsely, forgotten in prison and not once in the bible does it say he had grumbled or complained. It says the Israelites grumbled and complained when they were in the wilderness, but it never says that about Joseph. Joseph succeeded in all he did because the Lord was with him. I wonder if the Lord was with Joseph because Joseph had a right attitude. I decided I wanted to be like Joseph and so, I prayed and a weight was lifted.
The counters and sink were installed that Friday. They were and are beautiful. Everything happened according to plan with nary a glitch. And then Z company called to make sure all went well. I told them it had and thanked them for their service. I can honestly say, in spite of everything, that I felt grateful to them not just for the counters and sink, but for the opportunity of a lesson learned.
A grateful attitude. It really is a big deal.