The Privileged Life: Are You a Complainer? Or Thankful?
“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God….” (Philippians 2:14-15 NKJV)
In our region this past week, so many people have experienced huge losses. Hurricane Helene left a colossal imprint on our region and on my heart.
Families have lost loved ones, with confirmed deaths and many still missing. Entire houses are demolished, gone in an instant. Lots of folks in Tennessee and North Carolina will be out of power and water for a very long time—supply lines everywhere are in disarray from fallen trees and flooding.
Our family and home are fine, though. We didn’t lose necessities or creature comforts. In my personal reflection, I’ve wondered…am I truly grateful for all God has given me?
When our children were small, we listened to a lot of Christian music for kids, including a great little video series called “Hide ’Em in Your Heart” by Christian artist Steve Green.
Green combined jaunty tunes with Scriptures for young ones to memorize, and the songs rubbed off on me as well. The one called “Do Everything Without Complaining” still pops up in my head when I’m tempted to complain…which means I hear it frequently.1
We all tend to whine when things aren’t going our way. We berate the bitter pill we swallow when we endure minor losses. But did you know that complaining is quite bad for your health?
According to Psychology Today, a study from Stanford University show that long-term stress, such as negativity, shrinks the part of your brain that handles memory, learning, and emotions. Negativity reduces creativity, communication, and progress. Recovery from griping is slow—it can take up to eight months to reprogram your brain habits.2
Negative thoughts become a toxic circle. As you complain, your brain synapses become hard-wired to default toward negative thoughts more frequently and quickly. The more you grumble, the more stress you put on your body with weakened immunity, increased blood pressure and heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Hanging out with cranky people fuels the fire, too…stress upon stress! 3
It’s no wonder that, on the way to the promised land, the ancient Israelites were constantly in trouble for their complaining. Whenever they faced the hardships of the wilderness, their faulty memories returned to the “good old days” of Egypt and failed to recall the slavery woes they had endured. God wasn’t pleased with their nonstop bellyaching. When they moaned about not having meat, He sent them plenty of quail…along with a plague (see Numbers 11 for that story).
What’s the solution for us? Get a strong grip on gratitude.
The Bible is chock full of admonition to be thankful. More than 130 times, we’re called to thank God and offer up continual thanksgiving to Him—in good times, tough times, feasts, famines, adversity, blessing, persecution, and beyond.
As usual, science backs up what the Scriptures say…that gratitude is good for us. Among the many blessings of being thankful are improved sleep, lower blood pressure, better eating habits, motivation to exercise, a strengthened immunity, improved pain tolerance, better glucose control, longer life span, and less inflammation with heart illness. Thankfulness also boosts self-confidence, patience, resiliency, forgiveness, optimism, vitality/energy, personal relationships, and addiction recovery. It’s a good plan to reduce stress-inducing hormones and depression.4
Just as constant complaining results in increased negativity, practicing a habit of gratitude over time develops a long-term natural bent toward positivity and happiness. It strengthens family support, enhances productivity in the marketplace, and improves decision-making.
Wow. That’s a lot of blessing in the simple decision to thank God.
Want to be happier? Start by being deliberate in your appreciation to God. Say a quick prayer of gratitude when you awake in the morning. Whisper a “Thank You, Jesus,” when you have enough money to buy groceries. Give a happy thumbs up to God when your children call you on the phone just to say “hi.” Thank Him for electricity when you turn on a light switch or start a load of laundry. And, one of my favorites, lift up a prayer of joy when you safely arrive home.
How about you? Ask the Holy Spirit to change your grumbling to gratitude when you encounter a difficult situation. Let your thanksgiving soar to the Lord, fill your heart, and overflow into generosity to others. Make yourself even happier by sending a donation for hurricane disaster relief to Samaritan’s Purse.
Being thankful is good for you! Let’s all make it a regular part of our thoughts this week!
Father God, how I thank You for all Your many blessings! Forgive me when I focus only on negatives and fail to remember Your steadfast goodness. Turn my grousing into gratitude, tune my heart to sing Your praise. Fill me with the goodness of Your Holy Spirit so that I will overflow in thankfulness and generosity to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Nancy C. Williams is a Christian wife/mom with a writing career spanning more than 40 years in business and journalism. Williams is the author of the novel To Love a Falcon and the devotional book A Crocus in the Desert: Devotions, Stories, and Prayers for Women Experiencing Infertility. Her weekly blogs are featured on Crossmap.com and AriseDaily. To follow Nancy’s posts and news, go to her home page at NancyCWilliams.com and subscribe at the bottom.
© Copyright 2024 Nancy C. Williams (text and photography). Unless otherwise noted, Scripture verses are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.#thanksgiving #thankfulness #gratitude #blessingsofgratitude #scientificbenefitsofgratitude #nowhining
1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEYrEgnbgAw
2https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-slow/202103/is-complaining-really-all-bad-you
3https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/complaining-rewires-your-brain-for-negativity-science-says.html
4https://research.com/education/scientific-benefits-of-gratitude
