There is a fundamental observation in world life, and that is that people like to complain. I say this with certainty. There are even complaint departments. Anyway, I ask Myself, if My Children didn’t like complaining, why would they complain? Why would they complain time and time again? And why would you? Why would you?
In the act of complaining, a human being is pointing fingers at another, or a congregation of others called a county or state or country. Hey, it’s true. Others and congregates of others may not be any wiser than you. At the same time, others are not responsible for the situations you find yourself in. You have something to do with the situation you are in. You got there. You weren’t looking where you’re going. You were not thinking. No matter how innocent you were, how unsuspecting, you took part.
When you complain, you are saying, “Woe is me. Woe is me. Poor me. Poor neglected unfairly-treated me.” Stop doing that. It is not befitting a child of God.
The world does serve you. That very county or your employer or your employees do serve you. They are serving you right now.
You may complain about the roads in your city. There are potholes, too many of them. Instead of griping about the department of roads and highways, will you kindly remind yourself that you are driving on a paved road that is available to you and, for Heaven’s sakes, most of the road is in good shape. A road has been paved for you.
If you fall off your bike, naturally, you pick your bike and yourself up. Instead of grumbling that you fell, aren’t you glad you fell on the grass and not the cement?
If you complain about litter in the streets, pick up the litter.
If you complain about the poor state of the neighborhood you live in, get a paintbrush and help your neighbor paint. Why not? I have to ask you, why not? Why not bless the world?
What a drain of energy it is to complain. It is you who chooses something to complain about. Complaining is bad-mouthing. And when you complain, you are an excellent fault-finder.
If I may be frank, who appointed you the overseer of the world? Are you the Princess and the Pea? Are you the Queen of England? Who said everything is to be the way you want?
When you must focus on the ills of the world or on your own ills, you are tending to cast others as responsible for you. You are foisting your own responsibilities onto others or another, and so you reproach. You cast those stones. Perhaps you are the first to cast them. Perhaps you are the last as well. Perhaps it is a continuous pattern that you daily find yourself casting stones. The stones you cast are blame, throwing away your responsibility right and left.
Beloveds, blame is never the issue. When you blame, you can know you are sidetracked. Even when you blame yourself, you are off-track. Blame is a detour. It is like a magician’s trick. It makes you look at something when, all the while, there is something else important you are not seeing.
When you complain, you are stewing in your own juice. You are sitting in a cannibal’s stewpot and complaining that the water is too hot. Get out of the stewpot, beloveds. Stop sitting in it. No more complaints. Blessings from you now.