In All Fairness

That’s not fair! How many times have we said those words in our lifetime? How many times have we heard those words from our children? How many times have we replied, “Life isn’t always fair!” to our children?

This morning, as every weekday morning, I am at my desk working when I hear the first rattling of a kennel door. It’s Chelsie letting me know she is ready to get out of the kennel and start her day. The problem with that is the starting of her day means the beginning of the interruptions in mine. She starts making her desire known shortly after Honey has left for work, a little after 5am. It is still dark out, the world is still quiet, and I’d prefer to keep it that way. Chelsie has other plans of her own. She rattles the kennel door again, after a couple of times, I tell her to be quiet. That works for a while, a short while. There comes a point when the rattle takes on an urgency indicating she’s serious, it’s potty time!

I make the trip back to the kennels and release the hounds. On any given day, there are at least two not interested in leaving the coziness of their kennels, and balk at going out. They have no choice, it’s time, and I send them all out together. You have no trouble telling which of the hounds look at you thinking, “It’s not fair!” The last couple of days, I started sending Chelsie out alone after a few rattles. She bolts out as usual, then comes back inside, and stands at the baby gate with a perplexed look. After a bit, she whines for her siblings. She has the “it’s not fair” look on her face. Meanwhile, her siblings get the extra time in bed they want and happily make their way out when I go back later for them.

Life isn’t always fair. Finding balance of fairness for the hounds and my need for a quiet workplace is a tricky, slippery slope. This is my burden with our animals. In the big picture of life, it’s not a huge thing. It is to me when I’m trying to write each day but, to others, may seem nothing.

Put into perspective with all God deals with in the day-to-day dealing of His people, my problems are nothing. Can you imagine how often God hears, “It’s not fair!” or “Why me?” or “How come I don’t have as much as he has?” I shudder to think!

It occurs to me that we have an issue with fairness because we think ‘fair’ should mean ‘equal’. Isn’t that what a young child is really saying when an older sibling gets to do something they can’t? We want and think we deserve equal ‘blessings’ to those around us. ‘God showers others with prosperity, why not me? It’s not fair; my life is harder than everyone else I know.’ Sing with me, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen…” 

Life may not look or feel fair but let’s look at where it is equal… we have equal access to God through Jesus Christ. God doesn’t love some of us more than others. Jesus died on the cross to save all people, not a select few. Scripture says, “…every knee shall bow, every tongue confess…” He’s an equal opportunity God.

This begs the question, are we giving equal time to study and prayer as we do TV or computer? Do we seek His face first thing every morning like our friend that walks through their day in peace? Or, are we looking more for His hand and what He holds in it for us? Is that fair to God to always be asking and expecting more, when we are stingy with our time given solely to Him? Are we as concerned with fairness when it comes to giving it as much as we are in receiving it? Before you get up in arms, I am not saying we have to earn blessings, we can’t. We are not even worthy of earning them, they are freely given. I’m talking specifically about our misconception that ‘fairness’ is the same as ‘equal’. If God was fair in dolling out what we deserve, we would be far less happy than we are in our quest for ‘equal’. Just something to think about…