Studies are often conducted about the percentage of people who go to college and earn a degree. A lot of tymes the outcome of such studies is not impressive, but I am of the opinion that 99.9% of people on this earth, myself included, would have at least a bachelors if not a doctorate if the Universities would offer a degree in complaining.
If you think about it, we all do it. We complain when it’s hot and we complain when it’s cold. We complain about the slow moving vehicle in front of us and we complain when cars fly passed us on the highway. We brook no tolerance when we have to wait in line at the grocery store checkout and we have less than positive things to say when people in line behind us express their impatience.
Now, you might be able to justify our cranky habit by calling it an involuntary reaction. We don’t mean to grumble or protest, but society has taught us that we are the ones who know best and that if something doesn’t go our way, we should voice our displeasure. It’s an ironic curriculum, considering that the only way it could work is if everyone had the exact same opinions and ideas; fancy that, we don’t. We live in a culture where new and different ideas are in abundant supply, thus making the ammunition for grievances likewise. There is no shortage of topics, situations or happenings to invoke a criticism from even the most conscientious of individuals, though it seems some people have more access to fire power than most.
Few things are more aggravating than a person who finds fault with everyone and everything and has a particular skill in making his or her dissatisfaction freely known. Every word has a deep, negative connotation. Every breath is taken and released with the fundamental purpose of relaying distaste for a current situation or surrounding. Nothing pleases this person, to the point that even if things were altered to meet every complaint, he or she would criticize the order and manner in which the complaints were met.
Right now you are doing one of three things. You’re nodding your head in agreement because you’ve encountered one of these personalities, you’re breathing a sigh of relief that you’ve yet to cross paths with such a person or you’re jumping up and down, bellowing maledictions because I just trampled all over your feet. Okay, that might be a bit dramatic, but you know what I mean. I think if we’re all honest, our toes are hurting at the moment, because we all know that from tyme to tyme we catch a case the grumbles.
Years ago there was an era, if you will, when the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” was extremely popular; it’s a shame that the era has passed. The question seemed to inspire people to try and respond to a situation in a way that they knew or thought Jesus might have responded. It prompted them to think before they spoke or before they complained. If you consider it, it makes sense. If Jesus could go through all the horrific things that He did without complaining, protesting, whining or grumbling, then perhaps there is a modicum of hope for us.
There are going to be tymes when things don’t go our way, in fact there will probably be a lot of them. There are going to be tymes when we have to wait in line, when we have to compromise on a movie choice, when the weather offers rain when we want it fair, but we don’t have to let it transform us into Grumpy; Sneezy or Sleepy perhaps, depending on the season or the day, but not Grumpy.
There are so many things for us to be thankful for, to the point that if we stopped to count our blessings, we would exhaust our supply of numbers. God never said that life here on earth would be without aggravation, but He did promise to help us through any and all circumstances that we encounter and that is something to smile about.
So, the next tyme you’re less than pleased because your friend chose to take the long way home from the restaurant, instead of a sullen sigh, let your pallet produce praise to God that He blessed you with companionship. The next tyme you’re sitting at a red light, wanting to grumble about the wait, turn that glare in your eye into a gleam because God wanted to spend that minute with you. Then, when you encounter those with the bane of finding complaint, be a shining red light in their darkness, because you might be God’s minute with them. ~LDK~
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