Complaints

ByHal Hammons

When does a negative observation become whining?  When does leaning on our brethren for comfort become burdening them with our problems?  Is “venting” every once in a while an appropriate response to stress?  I have no easy answers for such questions.  If you do, please share.

Perhaps asking yourself questions such as the following can help:

Do I need help?  And am I too proud to simply ask for it?

Is the problem in question specifically my problem?  And how many of my complaints tend to be that way?

How do my concerns rank with the concerns of others?

How do I react when I see others acting like I am acting?

When others respond to me by citing those who have much bigger problems, am I compassionate?  Or am I a little bit annoyed that the spotlight has left me?

Have I prayed about it?  And if so, do I believe the forces of heaven are assigned to render aid (Hebrews 1:14)?

Most of all, is the circumstance making my faith stronger or weaker?

Such questions are especially important in times like these.  We all have plenty of legitimate complaints.  Most of us are on social media, which allows us to complain far more efficiently.  If our brethren are to bear our burdens (Galatians 6:2), we should not hesitate to ask them to bear ours.  But if we are not actively pursuing ways to do the same for others, we would use the passage better by pointing it at ourselves.

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Gather

ByHal Hammons

When a bunch of preachers gather in a single area, they tend strongly to discuss the things of the Spirit.  Perhaps that is simply to “fit in.”  Perhaps it is to demonstrate our credibility in spiritual matters. Perhaps it is simply because it is what everyone else is doing.  In any case, we look more like preachers when preachers are the only ones in the room.

That can be a result of hypocrisy, and in some instances it probably is.  Maybe some are just going through the motions to blend in with people they admire.  Maybe that’s what I do.  But I like to believe, …

Would an idiot do that?

ByHal Hammons

One of the speakers at my nephew’s recent graduation quoted Dwight Schrute, a character from The Office (because no one on television has said anything worth quoting in the last ten years).  Dwight said, “Whenever I’m about to do something, I ask myself, ‘Would an idiot do that?’’  And if they would, I do not do that thing.” 

As simple and irrefutable as that logic is, I can’t help thinking it is needful in our day and time. 

Comments

ByHal Hammons

I awoke one day and was suddenly bombarded by notifications about how I can make money by downloading an app and simply refusing to text while driving.  My stink-o-meter went off immediately.  Nobody gets paid for not  doing something.  It’s got to be a scam.

I made a comment to that effect on Facebook and was quickly reminded of one of the reasons I post such things so infrequently.

Control

ByHal Hammons

If people can’t control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people’s behavior.  That is a very profound truth (unfortunately, not original to me) regarding political correctness in particular and whining in general.  We convince ourselves that the problem is “out there” and  therefore someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility.  In truth, though, the problem — at least, the one relevant to the current circumstance — is “in here.”  Our own personal weaknesses, our own personal insecurities, our own personal failures.

Perspective

ByHal Hammons

From a distance, my lawn looks great.  Up close, my lawn looks terrible.  Both perspectives are unfair, I think.  It is self-serving and lazy to imagine that a quick glance from the street is how best to measure the quality of my work.  It is self-defeating and depressing to hover over each blade of grass (or weed, or dead spot) and wonder what I did so horribly wrong as to bring on this tragedy.

Perspective makes all the difference.  You’re either a hero or a goat, a genius or an idiot.  Both perspectives are true, and both are lies.