Stop filling up your ‘ugh’ cup
How often do you complain about things? How many times have you complained about something today? It could be your boring job, detailed studies, financial insufficiency, the ‘not-so-great’ weather, that annoying person who always sits next to you and talks really loud on the phone, the ‘slowest moving traffic in the world’, very hyperactive children etc.
Can you try to live a day without complaining about something? It has become very difficult hasn’t it! The life situations have groomed us in such a way that we are constantly worried, stressed or even dissatisfied with what we do, or where we are. We have even come to enjoy complaining about something at times.
As Christians, are we allowed to complain?
“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” - Philippians 2:14-15
Call it either a de-stressor or a coping mechanism, the simple answer is no. Practically though, it is very difficult to abstain from complaining or grumbling. But if we really need to stand as testimonies in the midst of this ‘perverse’ generation, we have to learn how to be at peace with anything that the world throws at us.
Let us take this as a challenge by holding back from complaining about something first. Extend it to a day or two; then a week, or even a month or a year. With God, all things are possible! Let’s cast all of our burdens at His feet, and be free from all unnecessary stress and joylessness.