Complaining

Words are powerful. They can beat us down and lift us up. They wound and they heal. And the right words at the right time can be exactly what we need to hear—or what we need to say. Let’s find the right words to speak.

In part one of the series My Big Fat Mouth pastor Craig Groeschel preaches a great message about complaining. When we complain it feels good in the moment, we get to vent all our negative emotions, but what complaining does over time is it rewires our brains to think more negatively. The more we complain, the more we will see negativity everywhere we look.

If we want to thrive in this life complaining isn’t the path to take. When we are faced with difficulty we can choose to do something about the situation instead of complaining about it. When we are faced with a difficult situation we can change something in our lives and make things better, but if we can’t change the situation we can always change our perspective. Perspective is everything.

Life isn’t so much about what happened to us, it all depends on how we perceive what happened to us. Here’s the thing: if we think that this life is all bout us, we will constantly have something to complain about. If I have a world view in which I think that the world revolves around me, I will have a lot to complain about. If I’m the main character in the story, then I shouldn’t have to face these difficulties. Why does she get to meet “the one” and I don’t? Why did he get promoted and I didn’t? Why do I have to go through this struggle? it’s not fair!

If I believe that I’m the most important person in this life then it’s natural for me to complain when things don’t look great for me. But if I realize that this life isn’t all about me I will be able to see the bigger picture when I’m faced with difficulty rather than to complain. It’s a sobering thought isn’t it? The more I complain, the more I believe that the world should revolve around me. If I’m aware that the world revolves around God I will notice the purpose in every struggle, rather than to think that it’s not fair that I have some struggles. When I believe that life is all about me it also becomes very easy for me to miss the blessings in my life, as I zoom in on what’s not great right now.