A silly poem about complaints

My partner interrupted me

And didn’t listen to my joke

Then the internet was broke

Oh woe is me, I rend my cloak

So that was silly, but then most of our petty complaints are silly. I’m not talking here about lament when like Job we despair about suffering and loss. I’m talking daily small irritations: your partner interrupted you. You chose the wrong line at the grocery store.

Choosing to laugh about our petty complaints helps inject gratitude back into the situation. I am tremendously grateful for my husband - the poem is fiction, although we have been having some internet hiccups. I can’t imagine where I’d be without the internet as a means to connect with my kids. And the immense privilege of being able to go to the grocery store and buy whatever I need - hard to measure.

I’ve been trying to use time waiting in line at the grocery store as prayer time. In a magnificent coincidence, line-ups get longer during Advent. Something to be grateful for?