Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Keeping Tally


The most recent lesson in my Bible study has been over Philipians.  When reading chapter two we got into a discussion about complaints.  Paul says to “Do all things without murmurings and disputings."  We realized what a part of our daily life our complaints are and what a filler they become in most of our conversations.  As an experiment for myself I decided that for a whole day I would keep a tally mark of all the complaints I had made.  Here’s how it went:

I woke up for my first class after a late night.  Complaint.  Saga, our dining hall, didn’t have the best selection of breakfast.  Complaint.  I forgot to bring a pencil to class.  Complaint.  The tally didn’t make it past noon.  After realizing I was far behind and beginning to complain about the tally itself, I quit the count.

This experiment showed me how much time I spend complaining and how hard it would be to give it up all together.  We use it as a way to fill in awkward silences, but does it really make the conversation any better?  It feels good to vent and complain, but we must find a better way to make peace with ourselves.  We must learn to use these situations to see what God wants for us and how we can use these times to become closer to that goal.

Originally written 9/11/10


No comments: