You Know What Will Help??

Okay! So, we all have our pet peeves. You know...the things that just really, really get on your nerves?? Well, I have quite a few on that list, but today I want to discuss the one that could very well be #1: complaining! 

This pet peeve is actually funny because....we all do it! (Spoiler Alert!: Even me!!). What makes this something that bothers me so much is quite easy to explain: BECAUSE COMPLAINING DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO BETTER YOUR SITUATION!! 

This summer at camp, one of my favorite things to say whenever somebody would complain about something was: "Do you know what would help?" And whenever they continued on and asked me what would help, I would always reply, "If you complain about it just a little bit more." (And by the end of the summer, people would return the favor by saying the same thing to me whenever I was caught up in the pointless act of complaining!)

What's even more ridiculous than the actual complaining itself is what we are normally complaining about. We complain about feeling tired or not feeling well. We complain about our clothes. We complain about food. We complain about how far we have to walk to class. We complain about how early we have to get up. We complain about what other people are doing. We complain about our jobs. We complain about how hard a class is. 

By the time we really evaluate what all we have ever complained about, it becomes pretty blatantly obvious that sometimes it might be easier to think about what we don't complain about!

Now, from my very first blog, I had a post that was very similar to this one, in which I used the camp's theme Bible verse for reference. Well, I believe that it is just as useful with today's entry as it was then:

Philippians 2:14-15 says: "Do everything without grumbling or complaining, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God, faultless in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky."

As I sit in my ethics class that I have to take this semester, we find ourselves constantly talking about what is right, what is wrong, what is ethical, and what we can do to make our society a better place overall. As I sit in the classroom with 49 kids probably smarter than I am and a professor that has every degree one can obtain, I constantly just find myself thinking, "Our society needs Jesus! If we would all just realize this, this country would be in a much better state than it is right now!!!" 

While this scenario does carry some humor, it is nonetheless very true. Our world is in desperate need of hope that can only be found through our Savior. The world needs to hear His name, and we are the ones that need to let them hear it!

So, next time you start to complain or find yourself in an unfavorable situation, think about the fact that you have a faith that has saved you. You have a God that loves you more than anyone on earth will ever be able to. And you have a hope that the world needs to know about way more than they need to hear your complaints!