Antidotes for Complaining

St. Peter’s Prayer

In my last blog I mentioned that the apostle Peter wrote a prayer to a group of Christ followers in Turkey (ancient Cappadocia) who were undergoing severe religious persecution. He prays that they will not complain. What? First-century persecution was ruthless and without judicial guidelines that our modern-day society would demand and expect. It seems harsh. One of the definitions of complaining is to lament; often a heartfelt expression of true emotional pain. The Bible is full of laments. To be honest, there are times that I can see how uttering the negative dark truth, pain or difficulty of a matter, might help us vent septic emotions, leading to a more peaceful homeostasis. Broadening his prayer to us, Peter seems to intimate that we can all overcome complaining using antidotes that ward off deleterious complications. He lists three powerful remedies we can put into action to replace grumbling about our plight. Peter says we should love one another, be hospitable, and employ our God-given gifts and talents to serve others.

Love Others

Tapping into God’s love and expressing it instead of murmuring in misery changes the atmosphere; like rainbow-laden fresh air immediately after a fast-moving thunderstorm. Extending love to others in our immediate atmosphere, loving them more than self is a fire hose spraying upon a firepit of complaint. If I love others by being good, complimentary, and honoring them, I’ve shifted the focus of whatever is causing me to complain. I had a lovely elderly acquaintance, now deceased, who, I am not kidding, would call me just about every other day with the salutation, “Hello Eileen, I have a problem.” Her “problems” were always petty and surficial, like the neighbor’s dog pooping on her yard again. I would immediately try to set her on a mission to be good to someone, loving them instead of focusing on her “problem.” 

Hospitable to Others

A second substitute for complaining is to be hospitable. This is more than an attitude of love toward another human being, this is action. What makes it more actionable is inherent in how the Greeks used this word “hospitality.” They applied it more towards being sweet, nice, offering comfort and aid to strangers. Oh, my Lord, the quest to overcome complaining is really on now! It’s easy to be nice to Chris, ok well, forget that 😊. What I mean is that it's easier to be hospitable to our loved ones and friends, but what about people we don't even know? I always remember that someone out there has it way worse than me; I can number several right now. Any Parkinson’s Disease (PD) complaint I have is pathetic compared to what many personal acquaintances are presently enduring with courage and grace. Let’s provide hospice before it is actually needed.

God-Given Gifts

Finally, the last facet of diminishing the scourge of complaining is to use our God-given talents and gifts to serve others. Beyond being loving or hospitable (actual Holy Spirit gifts defined in the Bible), we can serve others using whatever God-given gifts and abilities we possess. Chris told me this example and I heartily verify. He was complaining about calling someone on my behalf (I can’t talk . . . remember?). He said he was prompted by the Spirit to stop complaining about this task, put on a cloak of love and service and help me love and socialize with others. His actions on this replaced the complaint that he was tired, having an introvert moment, was lacking in socializing energy, or thinks that we just spoke to that person yesterday. 

Earthen Vessels

Both Chris and I complain, but it has lessened as we have grown stronger in the good things of God, by his power not ours. The apostle Paul was in prison for Christ, experiencing great physical pain and suffering when he wrote to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 4). Though enduring inhuman treatment in a first century Roman prison, he isn’t complaining and seems almost delusional in his level of contentment. He attributes his upbeat demeanor to the “surpassing greatness of God’s power.” He writes about enduring all kinds of affliction, persecution, weird perplexity coming from every direction, and yet he says he’s not crushed in spirit, not depressed, not perplexed, not despairing, and not destroyed. Like Paul, I march on as an earthen vessel knowing God is here, always providing some type of help and more importantly knowing that a great spiritual “resurrected me” awaits. 

Sunset Season

When you see us next, hopefully we will be exuding less complaints. Maybe we will record an update later in the summer or early fall when we are tempted to complain about the flies and how fast the summer has zoomed by here in the great North. Until then, I love you all, sooo appreciate your calls and visits, and I hope to see you down the road via my wheelchair van. We are taking another “road in retirement” to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to get the van. I am pumped. Feel free to join me in your own quest to defeat complaining through loving, serving and using your unique gifts to benefit others. Hey, we all have valid laments, and Chris the stinker always reminds me on June 21 (solstice here) that the days are getting shorter, so let’s all take a breath and enjoy sunset season as we speed on through summer, basking in the surpassing greatness of divine peace and strength only derived from the presence of a loving God. 

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10