I Won't Complain Series

Now, as I talk about this topic, I just have to tell you, if I seem very passionate about it, I am, because this is one of the major areas where God has done an overhaul on my heart. And I will just be real honest with you. It always makes me feel a little vulnerable doing this in front of so many people, but here it goes. For years and years and years, after starting the church, I had an incredibly negative heart, which was characterized by my words, and what I would do is complain about, most often, my schedule and what I was missing out on that normal people get to enjoy. I would complain about the people, Oh Lord, the people, are enough to make you complain! And my pity party would go something like this, “Regular people get weekends off. Weekends are workdays for me. Most people get two days a week off. I get none. That’s just not fair. Most people get holidays off. Most holidays are religious days and so that means whenever you go to church for one little bitty weeny whoosh hour on holidays and get to go back to be with your family, I gotta work holidays. Football games, I miss them all. You put your little flags on your stupid cars and skip church, sit in front of the television and cheer, and I rarely get to see the Steelers beat up on the Cowboys or whoever their opponent is.

So, anyway, my pity party goes on, and it overflows into this “I don’t have a life” mentality. I’ve got all of these kids that need me, all you people that need me, the schedule that needs me … “I don’t have a life” is what I said for years and years. And what I had to acknowledge is that my words were a symptom of a very deep and very, very real problem in my heart. My heart was full of resentment and bitterness and anger, and the words revealed the condition of my heart. So do yours.

FORMULA TO JACK UP YOUR LIFE

Now, let me just give you a formula to really jack up your whole life, okay? If you want to just mess it up big and be miserable, here’s what you do, Okay? Very simply, you can try this at home alone, just make sure you have adult supervision. You want to hate your job for the rest of your life? Complain about it every single day. You want to be miserable about your job? Complain about the commute to work, complain about the people that you work with that just get under your skin like putting fingernails on a chalkboard. Complain about your idiot boss that doesn’t know squat. Complain about the lousy benefit package. Complain about how you are undervalued. Complain about how you don’t like your work environment, and I guarantee you, you will hate your job. If you are not fully miserable, let me tell you how you can hate your life. Complain about everything, everything, I mean everything. Complain about the weather, complain about the economy, complain about the prices of gas, complain about your physical features, how you used to be hot and now you’re not. Complain about the misplacement of your hair. It’s no longer on your head, now there’s more on your back or coming out of your ears. Complain about the way people drive …complain and complain and complain and you will be miserable. If that’s not good enough, let’s screw up your marriage, as well. Do you want to mess that up? Nit pick your spouse to death. Nanana lalalala au laah aah. Find anything, big things. Even more fun, find small things and nit pick them, I mean everything. The way they drive, the way they choose to get to a place, the way they chew their gum, the way they leave a little piece of food on their plate, the way their hair falls out and clogs up the shower drain, the way they leave their underwear laying around on the floor. Zero in and complain about everything, and I guarantee you, you will screw up your marriage. You think about it. When you are dating, you speak words of life. “I love you, honey bunch, sugar pie, muffin buffin’ luvy’ dovey lovy, oooh, and blow in your ear … you’re so good lookin’. You walk into the room and the smoke detector goes off, you’re so hot.” You know, and then years later, “You can’t do nothing right. I’m sick and tired of you. You come in here, you’re making me miserable.”