Complain, Complain, Complain

I hate making New Year's resolutions, so I don't. They're just broken promises. Familiar with the drill?

I'm awesome at keeping promises to others, but I suck at keeping promises to myself.

Any who, if I were to make resolutions other than those made to God, mine would be to be more thankful, to be more generous, to be more loving, and to be more content and not complain.

You might ask: "Why be more content and not complain? Doesn't everyone complain? Isn't complaining the nature of our beast?"

Yes, but why complain if complaining only makes us more miserable?

Lately, I've noticed that I've been complaining too much. 

• When I complain, I'm NOT trusting God.
• When I complain, I feel like I KNOW best what I need instead of believing in His love and providence.
• When I complain, I am NOT thankful for what I do have; I'm just concentrating on what I don't have.
• When I complain, I am doing something that god HATES. (Check out the first five books of the Bible . . . and all those afterwards.)

I of all people should not be complaining.

• Just a mere fifteen months ago, this woman was dead . . . almost . . . literally.
• Just a mere year ago, this woman could croak only a note or two. We're talking bullfrog singing on a lily pad. Truly! I sang low notes I've never ever sung before.
• The past few years, my trusty cane and/or walker have been my constant companions.
• For the past fifteen years, I've faced cancer three times among other ailments.

No, I have NOTHING to complain about.  I AM ALIVE. MY THROAT IS HEALED. I CAN WALK AGAIN. I AM CANCER FREE. AND I MADE IT THROUGH ALL THE OTHER STUFF. Thank you, Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!

I also have a home, a paycheck, a vehicle, food to eat, and a wonderful family who didn't abandon me throughout all of this. I have at least ten or fifteen people, maybe more, whom I call TRUE friends. On top of all of that, THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE LOVES ME!

Unfortunately, life happens, but in the midst of life happening, I don't have to make myself more miserable by complaining. In the midst of it all, those Everlasting Arms cradle me unless I'm a wiggle worm and constantly wriggle myself right off of His lap.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10: 5+ that God's displeasure with His people was because of their complaining, grumbling, and discontent.

These things happened as a warning to us,

so that we would not crave [lust after] things as they did

or worship idols as some of them did . . .

Don't grumble.

I'm rereading Elisabeth Elliot's Keep a Quiet Heart. Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India who was bedridden and crippled for the later part of her life yet did not neglect her call, influenced Elisabeth and her husband Jim, also a missionary to South America who was murdered by the very people he sought to save. Elisabeth later returned to this tribe and ministered to them.

Elliot reminded me this week that the things we complain about just may be the "instruments whereby the Potter intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son." Amy Carmichael would say, "See in this a chance to die." In other words, be content in the blessed assurance of the goodness and faithfulness and mercy of God. His goodness and His mercy DO follow us all the days of our lives.

So, I leave you with a summary of Elisabeth's list of "Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable" in hopes that I will strive to achieve my goal of not complaining. Life is what it is.

I have a choice: peace or misery.

• Count your troubles. Name them one by one over and over and over again.
• Worry every day. Don't get out of practice. It might burn a few calories.
• Have a pity party. If you pity yourself, no one else will have to.
• Try to serve both God and man.
• Find out what the Joneses [not aimed at Jimmy and Jaimie] are buying and where they are going. Try to outdo them even if it gets you deeper in debt.
• Stay away from absolutes [truths]. What's right for you is all that matters. Be and individual. Be independent. Don't be stressed over what others expect of you.
• Make sure to protect your rights. Never think about other people's rights. You have your life; they have theirs.
• Don't fall into a compassion trap where people can disappoint you and take advantage of your generosity. If you get too involved in another's troubles, you might neglect your own.
• Don't let Bible reading, church going, and prayer get in the way of what's really important - TV, news, gaming, sleep. Invisible things are eternal. Stick with the visible ones.

If we do these things, our hearts will be anything but "quiet" this year.

May the peace of God rest on us all.