(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday.)

Life down on this planet can be frustrating. Nearly everything we deal with has its problems. Even when we relax with a cool drink and look out at the perfect sunset, a mosquito is probably buzzing around our ankles, ready to bite.

Paul wrote about some of the frustration we feel (whether knowing the source or not) in Romans 8. He says all creation has been groaning. Part of the groaning is to make us long for the day when our frustrations will be over. We need to be in God’s presence. Verse 18 says that God’s glory will be revealed in us. I’m not sure what that means, but the implication is that it’s not there yet.

That is a complicated chapter of the Bible. I don’t fully understand it. But I know that Martin Luther King understood some of this when he gave his  “I have a dream” speech. God’s love shines when Dr. King’s dream of people caring for each other happens.

It’s perfectly normal when we long for what we don’t have. “If I just had a bigger salary and could pay all my bills, life would be perfect.” “It would be amazing if I had a romance like couples in the movies do.” “If I didn’t live in this town, so many things would be easier.” But we forget that people with huge salaries aren’t always happy. (Some are the most miserable you’ll find anywhere.) Those movie couples? Not real. (In my marriage, some of our sweetest times have been after our most difficult conflicts.) Where we live? There are mosquitoes in Aspen too.

So give yourself a break. Relax and know that life down here does not have to be perfect. And go out to enjoy that lovely sunset while swatting those pesky mosquitoes.