Complaining

I woke up this morning feeling like crap. It started yesterday, the headache and sore throat, the congestion and coughing. I am trying had to do the right thing here, starting a new diet and trying to exercise more. Monitoring my blood sugar religiously. And what do I get? Sick, again. Ugh!!

And that ladies and gentlemen is what I was thinking this morning when I picked up my copy of "Jesus Calling" and turned to today's entry. And got a wake up call. I won't type out the whole entry because I am lazy, but here are the parts that spoke to me:

"I am pleased with your desire to stay close to Me. There is one thing, however, that displeases Me: your tendency to complain. You may talk to Me as much as you want about the difficulty of the path we are following.....You can ventilate safely to Me, because talking with Me tempers your thoughts and helps you see things from My perspective.

Complaining to others is another matter altogether. It opens the door to deadly sins such as self-pity and rage."

Ouch. Now I have to think about this for a minute. I'm not a big complainer (at least I don't think I am). I tend to be a "glass 1/2 full" kind of girl. But sometimes (like today) I just want to have a pity party. Is that really so bad? Maybe not, when it's just once. But I have people in my life who complain about everything, who can never see the bright side. And I recognize that I am really only a pity party or two away from being like that. Because that is how it starts. Giving in to the negative, one day at a time, until all you can see is the negative and you lose sight of Him. And I do not want to do that. So, I will try to remember this lesson, to keep it close to my heart. And to watch my words.



"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you will shine like stars in the universe." Philippians 2:14-15