March 6, Wednesday ~ Giving Up Complaint

DAY 19: Giving Up Complaint

Today’s we are called to fast from complaining. But I don’t want to!! It is hard, tedious, and boring. Sound familiar?? As we discovered when we had to give up negativity just two days ago (Day 16) , humans are wired to be negative, which can lead to complaining. Just as we talked about how gratitude is the antidote for negativity, praise can redirect your energy away from complaining and into a constructive mindset. I used to remind my workers that if they were not a part of the solution, they could very well become a part of the problem.

I raised two boys, and I loved being their mom, but there were days when there were more complaints than fire ants in our South Texas home. I would tell them that they needed to work on their “grumptitude”. If the complaining reached critical mass before they got to the breakfast table, I would call for a “redo.” Everyone would get back in bed, and we would start all over again. That usually worked, especially when I was the one who needed a realignment of my “grumptitude”.

In the United Methodist Church liturgy, there is a place right after the reading of scripture called the Act of Praise. It comes pretty early in the worship service and is usually a song of praise. I was a full time church staff member for 30 years. On some Sundays, I desperately needed to participate in that Act of Praise in order to purge whatever complaints happened to follow me into church that morning. And it worked! Praising God helped me jettison the baggage of complaint so I could get on with worshipping.

Let’s get our praise on!!! Join me in singing/listening to Richard Smallwood’s Total Praise.

You are going to have to take your time. It is slow. It is repetitive, but it is powerful, and sometimes, we need all those things in order to redirect our complaining spirits and open us up to God’s abiding grace and love.

At any point if you are feeling overwhelmed by this content or just want to have a further discussion about the topic, feel free to contact pastormattbridges@gmail.com or wendy@encompassthespirit.com