Complaining Doesn't Serve You Well
- Katie Bennett www.embracingasimplerlife.com
- Updated Jun 25, 2018
Complaining has been a natural downfall for me throughout most of my life. I tend to take comfort in sharing my woes.
Unfortunately, as I detail my difficulties to whatever kind ear is available (difficulties such as the children who are pushing limits, the husband who works late, the fussy baby, the discomforts of pregnancy, the ever-increasing grocery shopping bill, the endless household chores, and so on), not only do I fail to lift up the hearer, but I also end up feeling sorrier for myself than ever!
As I think about each aspect of my plight, I become increasingly enamored with my sufferings and less fixated on the sufficiency of Christ. I lose sight of the abundant life available to me in Him every day.
Complaining does not serve me well, and I’ve come to see that it draws its very power from the root of wrong perspective.
The truth is, there is so much to be grateful for right now.
Psalm 90:10-12 says it like this,
“Seventy years are given to us! Some may even reach eighty. But even the best of these years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we are gone... Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.” (NLT)
I wonder, how often do we dismiss a season of life due to its pain and trouble, when, in fact, we will later see that those very years were the best of our lives?
How often do we fail to make the most of our time because we’re too busy waiting for things to get better?
Too often, I have chosen to live in stress and tension and needless anxiety, when my circumstances themselves were not that bad. I chose to focus on the “woe-is-me” instead of relishing the blessings in my life, both tangible and spiritual.
Too often, I cast my eyes down without realizing God will use hard things in my life for my good. If I’m not careful, I squander them.
You see, I am a mom of little children. Most of my friends are moms of little ones in this stage of life. I think we all agree, these little ones are exhausting.
It can be hard for any of us to look past that exhaustion and into the eyes of these precious gifts God has given us. These gifts who won’t be little forever. These gifts who long our attention now, when later, it will be us who long for theirs.
I’m also pregnant with my fourth child and experiencing all the “common complaints” that come along with pregnancy. Yet, even so, I’m making it my mission to soak in this precious time, to surrender my body to the Lord again to work in and through it, and to embrace the calling of motherhood completely.
Christ came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). This was His expressed purpose, and He accomplished it. Now “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17)!
When our day does not go as we expected, we must remember, it went as God expected.He sees and knows more than we do, and He loves us. There is an eternal picture in play.
Since we have surrendered our lives to Him, why let interruptions and difficulties perturb us? It is His life to do with as He pleases, is it not?
So, I challenge you (and me) to slow down and cherish the days. Let’s not be thrown by the pain and trouble. It doesn’t mean these aren’t the best days of our lives. Indeed, our best days WILL come with those things.
Let’s choose to realize the riches in our live, the gifts and joys of our current life season.
And let us nail our complaining ways to the cross, and instead meditate on and speak of His great grace, which is available and sufficient for all our trials and weaknesses. Let us use our difficulties as an opportunity to boast in His goodness!
This “making the most our years” starts with making the most of our days. And that starts with making the most of today.
There is so much here for us right now. God, give us the wisdom to see it.
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash
