I posted recently on the interesting things we choose to complain about in our culture...recognized that when we read broadly, learn about other situations, and generally interact with our world, it grounds us. When we recognize that life is different for others, that others struggle with different issues, things that we used to complain about can become things we are now grateful for.
I remember complaining about picking up dirty laundry in various bedrooms years ago, when I read a story about a mother whose child had gone missing…and she went into his room and saw his socks on the floor, and realized that after she put these socks in the laundry, she might never again have the ability to pick his dirty laundry off the floor.
I’ve never moaned in quite the same way about laundry since. Though I still have real feelings about needing to do it over and over again…it’s softened my complaints in a good way, I think.
I got a reality check today watching this brief, one minute video…will you ever think the same about a Mcworker getting your order wrong with the pickles on your Mcburger again?
As you go through your day tomorrow, may you see your problems also as gifts to be grateful for…
- cranky husbands are cranky because it’s Monday and they don’t want to go to work (but they do!)
- whining kids who don’t want to eat yogurt or proclaim “I’m mad” for some unknown reason (but they can state their dislikes and their feelings with words and language because they have functioning brains)
- cars that won’t start (but yesterday got you to where you needed to go, and the day before that, and the day before that)
- a cold sore on your mouth (which signals increased stress as a cue to take action, and shows how effectively your immune system fights it almost all the time)
Daequan Cook, an NBA player who got blindsided with a trade sometime very late last night, and whose life was turned upside down in an instant, tweeted this, this morning:
Good morning tweeps. Had a long night but nothing stops me from still taking the timeout to thank God for waking me up this morning.
You get the idea…I’m not talking about being a silly blind-to-the-realities-of-this-world Pollyanna who only sees the “sunny side of life”…but I think that all of life, and sometimes particularly our troubles, can point us to be so very grateful for so much…allowing us to hold the pain and the joys in some sort of emotional companionship inside of us that has us be more aware of suffering in ourselves and others, and in the incredible joy that life itself has to offer.
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