The “Discipline” of Complaining

“Attend to me and answer me; I am troubled in my complaint. I am distraught.”
Psalm 55:2

If you volunteer regularly at your child’s school, do you complain about the parents who never help but turn up when the work is done? When you were younger, did you complain when your parents asked you to do jobs around the house and gave younger brothers and sisters more liberty?

One of the first things we learn in life is to develop a view of what seems fair and what does not. We make assumptions about what we think are fair resolutions. However, you know assumptions can be planned resentments. When we complain, we focus on what we don’t have rather than what it is we want or need.

Complaining breeds a climate of negativity that affects our level of happiness. When we complain or criticize, we are not looking for a solution: we are simply expressing our dissatisfaction. 

Jesus does not care much about fairness or unfairness in the way we tend to think about it. The generosity of God is not limited. It is we humans who measure our worth by how much we earn in pay, how well we perform, or by any of our usual measures of status, popularity, social achievement and productivity. God does not want us to do that. He wants us to know His grace. God is overwhelmingly generous.

We have different gifts and abilities, and they are all equal in the eyes of God. It is enough that we have the profound privilege of laboring and serving in God’s vineyard.
The Rev. Gill B. Keyworth
Deacon, Pastoral Associate
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