Feeling Saucy: Living in an Incongruous Age

I was out shopping with my wife today, picking up some groceries for the coming week. We were hurrying our way through the store, and she would send me on "missions" to grab something so we could get our shopping done quickly. (Okay, so she doesn't call them "missions"...that's a game we used to play with our kids when we took them grocery shopping with us...and somehow I still call it that in my head. My own private universe...)

Wife: "Grab some barbecue sauce, okay?"

Me: "Sure thing."

Down the aisle I go...and stop short...because, well...this is what I saw:

So many sauces!

A few minutes later, she came down the aisle, wondering what happened to me. I was stymied by the sauces--decision paralysis, because there were so many options in front of me! And so many of them look tasty...how to begin to choose?

She grabbed her favorite, and we moved on...

...but I'm still thinking about this.

I've seen so much commentary online this year about how 2017 has been just. the. worst. And it truly has been a rough year for so many people, so I'm not minimizing that at all, really. There has been a ton of social, political, relational, and personal unrest in the U.S.A. in 2017, for sure.

But despite the horribleness of this year for so many...overall, 2017 was actually a pretty great year for me on a personal level. I was struck by this while faced with the incredible selection of sauces in the grocery aisle. So many options to choose among--I live in a land of ridiculous abundance, and in many ways, I am thriving. I suppose this is my natural positivity coming out of me, but I'm struck today by the fact that even though 2017 was a rough, rough year for so many people in a physical, emotional, social, perhaps even spiritual sense...at the same time, we live in a society awash in amazing abundance. How good I have things snapped into fine focus for me as I stood before the buffet of barbecue sauce options at my fingertips.

I'm not going to blithely suggest that the selection of sauces at the local Walmart makes up for the pain anyone has experienced this year. That would be ridiculous. I guess I'm just struck by the incongruity of it: so many people are experiencing so many challenges in the midst of a world where I can get stuck in the sauces.

For those who suffered in 2017, my heart is with you, and I sincerely hope that 2018 is a year of healing for you.

For those who--like me--had a pretty great year overall in 2017, I sincerely hope that 2018 is a year in which you'll be struck by the ridiculous, incongruous age in which we are living...and have a soft heart for those who struggled through 2017.